The Metropolitan Police made assumptions about gay men and their "lifestyle choices" while investigating the crimes of notorious killer Stephen Port, according to a leaked report.
The report from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), seen by Channel 4 News, said “the public cannot be satisfied that police are making decisions based on evidence and fact” because of how assumptions informed the investigation into Stephen, who murdered gay men.
Stephen was convicted of murdering four gay men he met through dating websites over a 15-month period in East London. Known as the "Grinder Killer", he lured his victims to his home before giving them fatal doses of the date rape drug GHB. He was finally sentenced to life in prison in 2016.
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The report, which has not been published, added: “The investigations into the four deaths reveal that assumptions were made and could have been based, consciously or unconsciously, on discriminatory views.”
Relatives of the victims have continued to express their fury at how the investigation was handled with Ricky Waumsley, whose partner was Daniel Whitworth, accusing the Met Police of homophobia. However, the Met insist their failure to catch Stephen sooner as down to a lack of "personal curiosity" by their officers.
An inquest into the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, last year found that three of Port’s victims would “probably” still be alive if it weren’t for police failures. All of Stephen’s victims were found dumped near his flat between June 2014 and September 2015 with three of them found in the same churchyard.
Ricky Waumsley told Channel 4 he first heard about his partner’s death in 2014 from officers who came to his house and said Daniel had taken his own life. However, Ricky was later told Daniel had died of an overdose of the drug GHB. He said the police assumed he knew what GHB was, but he had never heard of it: "They assumed every gay guy knows what GHB is and every gay guy takes drugs and that’s not true.”
As Ricky wasn't seen as a next of kin to Daniel, he was kept out of the loop about the ongoing investigation. He added: “I was absolutely devastated. I couldn’t believe the way they were treating me and the way they were treating Daniel.” Ricky believes officers were being “homophobic” in a way that “allowed Stephen Port to carry on murdering”.
A Met spokesperson said: “In an organisation of more than 44,000 people, we have already acknowledged there will be a small number with attitudes and beliefs that are not welcome in the Met; we will challenge, educate and discipline as appropriate. We are concerned to hear that, anecdotally, the IOPC has learned some of our LGBT+ advisers have experienced discrimination from colleagues. This is a serious matter and we will be exploring this further.”
