Stephen Port guilty: 'Grindr serial killer' to be sentenced for murder of four men
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Stephen Port has been found guilty of poisoning four young gay men.
The 41-year-old chef stalked his victims on dating websites such as Grindr and plied them with drinks spiked with fatal amounts of the date-rape drug GHB to rape them while they were unconscious, the Old Bailey heard.
Port dumped their bodies in or near a graveyard within 500 metres of his flat in Barking, east London, and embarked on an elaborate cover-up.
He disposed of their mobile phones, repeatedly lied to police and planting a fake suicide note in the hand of one of his victims, taking the blame for the death of another.
He denied all the charges against him but was found guilty of the murders of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor as well as a range of sexual offences against more men.
His first victim, Anthony Walgate, 23, was found dead on Cooke Street on 19 June last year. He was a fashion and design student at Middlesex University who was originally from Hull but living in Barnet.
The second victim, Gabriel Kovari, 22, was found by a dog walker near St Margaret's churchyard on 28 August last year. He was originally from Slovakia but lived in Lewisham, south London.
Just under a month later, on 20 September last year, the same dog walker discovered the body of Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, near the same churchyard.
Then on 14 September this year, Jack Taylor, 25, a forklift truck driver from Dagenham, was found dead near the abbey ruins close to North Street.
The deaths were not initially linked but after further investigation they were referred to the Metropolitan Police homicide and major crime command on 14 October.
Port was convicted of a total of 16 offences against nine out of 12 alleged victims, including the three murders.
Other charges he was found guilty of included seven counts of administering a substance, three rapes and three sex assaults.
Additional reporting by PA