Did police homophobia fail serial killer's gay victims? | CNN

Contents:

• STEPHEN PORT: POLICE MA ASSUMPTNS ABOUT THE GAY MUNY, QUT HEARS
• POLICE URGE GAY PEOPLE TO AVOID ‘DIMLY L AREAS’ AFTER MAN IS KILLED SPECTED HOMOPHOBIC MURR
• CALL TO REMA VIGILANT AFTER GAY MAN KILLED PARK MILE END
• DID POLICE HOMOPHOBIA FAIL SERIAL KILLER’S GAY VICTIMS?
• THE TRAFALGAR SQUARE KILLERS: TWO FOUND GUILTY OF ATTACK THAT LEFT GAY MAN AD
• 'GAY SLAYER' SERIAL KILLER DI IN JAIL
• GAY MAN DI AFTER SAVAGE BEATG LONDON
• 'GAY SLAYER’ SERIAL KILLER TORTURED HIS VICTIMS AND THEN SPENT THE NIGHT WH THE AD BODI SO AS NOT TO AROE SPICN
• GAY RIGHTS MPAIGNER ACC POLICE OF FAILG TO LK EAST LONDON ATHS

STEPHEN PORT: POLICE MA ASSUMPTNS ABOUT THE GAY MUNY, QUT HEARS

Image source, FAMILY HANDOUTImage ptn, Daniel Whworth (l) photographed wh his father AdamPolice ma an assumptn about the gay muny when probg the murrs of four young gay men, an qut heard. He also killed three other young men the same Whworth's stepmother said a Met tective scribed GHB as a "dg ed gay circl". She scribed the statement as "discrimatory", addg that she believed "the police ma an assumptn about the gay muny" Whworth, 21, om Gravend, Kent, was found a churchyard near Port's flat Barkg, east London, metr om where Gabriel Kovari was found ad a few weeks before.

MPs are llg for a public quiry to claims of stutnal homophobia the Metropolan Police after an qut nclud that failur "probably" ntributed to the aths of victims of serial killer Stephen fai of the four young gay men killed by Port have renewed accatns that police prejudice played a part officers' failure to listen to their ncerns and rulted missed opportuni to tch the killer. Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, were all plied wh fatal dos of the "date rape" dg GHB by Port, dubbed the "Grdr killer" for the way he suted his victims on the gay datg app. Accatns of homophobia.

Dame Margaret Hodge said she and 17 other signatori had wrten to Met Commissner Dame Crsida Dick "to mand a public quiry nsirs whether the Met is stutnally homophobic" letter says: "The police have admted their mistak, stuted new protols, and emphasised that a lack of rourc was to blame.

POLICE URGE GAY PEOPLE TO AVOID ‘DIMLY L AREAS’ AFTER MAN IS KILLED SPECTED HOMOPHOBIC MURR

Fai sist homophobia Met police. "The key qutn everyone is askg is yet to be answered - whether stutnal homophobia the Met played a role the vtigatns. The letter nclus that is "imperative that a public quiry tak place urgently to nsir if stutnal homophobia played a role this se" and also not that of the 17 officers vtigated for misnduct, none were is backed up by the victims' fai.

A statement released on their behalf said: "Had four, whe, heterosexual girls been found ad the same manner as Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack, then the police's actns, and the likely out, would have been different, " they the 'Grdr killer' murred four men - and the missed chanc to stop him'A lany of failur'Officers nied accatns of prejudice and homophobia, stead blamg mistak on beg unrstaffed and lackg Friday, the qut jury found officers missed repeated opportuni to tch Port, 46, after he plied first his victim, Mr Walgate, wh a fatal dose of date-rape dg GHB and dumped his body.

The MPs' letter lists a "lany of failur" by police, cludg that the dividual aths were not properly vtigated bee "a prumptn was ma that the were young gay men, some of them 'rent boys', who were habual GHB ers and accintally overdosed" quts heard that officers failed to follow leads, murr tectiv turned down requts om borough officers to take over the vtigatns, and ncerns om the victims' fai were had seized Port's laptop after the ath of the first victim but failed to subm for forensic analysis for 10 months, and then missed repeated search for dg rape vios ntaed on the vice. However, roner Sarah Munro QC told jurors on Friday that they uld not fd that "prejudice or homophobia or discrimatn on the part of the police ma any ntributn to the aths". Fay outrage over 'abomable' vtigatnMr Whworth's partner, Ricky Wmsley, lled for Ms Dick to rign "wh immediate effect" followg the jury's Whworth's stepmother Mandy told Sky News she believed stutnal homophobia the Met Police was "part of the recipe of disaster".

CALL TO REMA VIGILANT AFTER GAY MAN KILLED PARK MILE END

"I thk there's an element of homophobia, but I also believe was habual, " she said. Gay people have been urged by the Metropolan Police to avoid “dimly l areas” and “listeng to loud mic” followg a spected homophobic murr. Mr Kankanamalege’s juri were ed by blunt force trma, a post-mortem nfirmed, and the ath is beg treated as a homophobic hate crime.

DID POLICE HOMOPHOBIA FAIL SERIAL KILLER’S GAY VICTIMS?

Hackney and Tower Hamlets tectiv advised rints and members of the gay muny to “prrise their personal safety” at night “by beg aware of their surroundgs, avoidg listeng to loud mic, and avoidg dimly-l areas where possible”. Get the ee Morng Headl email for news om our reporters across the worldSign up to our ee Morng Headl emailThe Metropolan Police has nied that vtigative failgs that let a serial killer targetg gay men go ee were affected by the victims’ officers rejected the label of “stutnal homophobia” but admted a “lack of cultural awarens” while Stephen Port was trawlg Grdr for victims 2014 and had killed four men, and dgged and sexually asslted at least eight more, by the time he was qut jury led on Friday that police mistak “probably” ntributed to the aths of his Metropolan Police has issued formal apologi to the victims’ fai, and admted failgs the the force ni that “stutnal homophobia” affected the rponse, or that dividual vtigators were biased.

Commanr Jon Savell, the head of profsnalism for vtigatns, told a prs nference: “We don’t thk the evince shows that the men’s sexualy played a part our rponse, other than a lack of awarens - that wasn’t jt on behalf of police London but natnally om police - over the e of GHB by gay men and the dangers of , and how n be ed as a weapon. “We don’t see stutnal homophobia, we don’t see homophobia on the part of officers, we do see all sorts of errors the vtigatn which me together a tly dreadful way, ” she add. ”All of Stephen Port’s victims were gay, and their fai qutned whether their sexualy affected police vtigatns (PA)At the start of the quts to their aths, a lawyer reprentg the fai of Port’s victims said they wanted to know if their sexualy affected the police rponse.

“They’ve always wonred about whether there would have been a different oute if the police had vtigated Port properly and taken their ncerns serly, and if their boys hadn’t been gay, ” Neil Hudgell add. Coroner Sarah Munro QC barred jurors om fdg that homophobia or discrimatn by police ntributed to the victims’ aths before they started their liberatns, addg: “I have led as a matter of law that those matters are not matters upon which you may exprs any views. A h appeal for wns has been ma three weeks after an "horrendo" fatal attack on a gay man Mile End.

THE TRAFALGAR SQUARE KILLERS: TWO FOUND GUILTY OF ATTACK THAT LEFT GAY MAN AD

Stland Yard is vtigatg the ath which has been tegorised as a homophobic hate crime. LGBT+ Advisory Group se pennt lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people advisg and monorg the police on issu affectg LGBT+ people.

'GAY SLAYER' SERIAL KILLER DI IN JAIL

Image source, Gordon Rasford At the start of the 1980s, gay men London started to be affected by a myster first UK ath om Aids was the pal 1981 - although was only later this was nfirmed to be down to an HIV-related illns. By the end of that same year, more than 100 homosexual men the US had died as a rult of the time passed and the panic grew, gay people were hered further to the shadows by a homophobic prs mpaign.

Terms like the "gay plague" were wily ed, and people believed HIV uld be transmted by any kd of proximy to those wh the mark the end of LGBT History Month, four people who wnsed first hand the stggl of those wh Aids rell how what had been a vibrant gay muny was vastated by the disease. 'He thought he uld levate'Image source, Julian KalowskiImage ptn, Julian Kalowski (left) and his iend John Crancher (middle) were keen nightclub-goers the 1980sJulian Kalowski was a young gay man the 1980s and, like many, saw his social circle get smaller and smaller as the HIV and Aids crisis took hold. One of those who died was his close iend, John Aberen, John - like many gay men - had moved to London search of a better life.

GAY MAN DI AFTER SAVAGE BEATG LONDON

"The ward was full of a predomantly gay clientele who were at the ont of London's vibrant 80s scene. Police unr vtigatn for handlg of the se, ncern homophobia at play.

Over 15 months, Stephen Port, a 41-year-old chef om a workg class east London borough dgged, raped, and killed four gay men he met on datg apps. After drkg wh iends a lol gay club, he went home and saw his father, before hookg up wh Port on gay datg app Grdr and takg a taxi to his flat. Leadg gay rights activist Peter Tatchell qutned whether homophobia and class played a role police nduct.

“The killg of low e gay men workg class Barkg was treated very differently – police officers stand acced of class, genr and sexualy bias. Crimologist Wilson agreed that the se had “a great al to do wh the persistence of homophobia generally and wh the police. Prosecutors said Port targeted victims on Grdr and other gay datg s and apps, then plied them wh drks laced wh fatal amounts of the dg GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, otherwise known as liquid ecstasy.

'GAY SLAYER’ SERIAL KILLER TORTURED HIS VICTIMS AND THEN SPENT THE NIGHT WH THE AD BODI SO AS NOT TO AROE SPICN

Cohen believ another reason why police may have overlooked the serial killer’s volvement, was “bee of the e of the dg GHB and s prevalence among the gay muny.

“It’s que a problem the gay muny London, of people g the dgs chemsex, ” he said of the group sex ssns often anized through datg apps.

The fendant spent most of the trial tryg to prove he was not gay. Before his trial began at the Old Bailey, Prce Sd b Abdulaziz b Nasir al Sd ma strenuo efforts to keep the qutn of his homosexualy 34-year-old prce admted he had asslted his manservant, Bandar Abdulaziz, but nied barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, argued the qutn of sexualy was irrelevant to the se and poted out homosexual acts were a "mortal s" unr Islamic sharia Kelsey-Fry said if the prce was outed as a homosexual he uld face executn his native Sdi Arabia.

GAY RIGHTS MPAIGNER ACC POLICE OF FAILG TO LK EAST LONDON ATHS

Image ptn, Bandar Abdulaziz was an orphanChristoph Wilcke, a Sdi Arabia expert wh Human Rights Watch, said homosexuals had the past been executed but was ually for rape and he said a prce would be immune om urt the trial began, Mr Kelsey-Fry went to great lengths to strs his client nied he was a strg of wns suggted otherwise. A hotel porter, Dobromir Dimrov, himself homosexual, said: "I would scribe them as a gay uple. "But Mr Kelsey-Fry, cross examg Mr Dimrov, told him: "It is not accepted that this was fact a gay uple - but I readily accept that you had the imprsn they were a gay uple.