Stephen Port: Terrible mistakes made in serial killer case, Met officer says

Stephen Port presented a very different version of himself online (left)

The detective who looked into the death of a serial killer's first victim made "terrible mistakes", an inquest heard.

Stephen Port killed Anthony Walgate in 2014 by giving him an overdose of the "date-rape" drug GHB. He later killed three more young men the same way.

Det Sgt Martin O'Donnell did not know of a previous allegation of drug rape against Port in similar circumstances.

The Met Police officer told the hearing he did not search the national police database for information on Port.

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There was also a delay in inspecting Port's computer, which would have shown detectives a frequent search history about raping and drugging young men.

Giving evidence at Barking Town Hall in east London, where inquests are being held into the deaths of Port's four victims, Det Sgt O'Donnell said: "It's just a huge failure not to have obtained that information."

Anthony Walgate, pictured with his friend China Dunning

Mr Walgate was found dead by medics outside Stephen Port's flat in Cooke Street, Barking

Port had initially been arrested on suspicion of raping a man in December 2012, but the case was dropped when the complainant said he did not support a prosecution.

But Mr O'Donnell did not update the Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS), which logs progress in an investigation for colleagues to see.

He told the hearing: "It feels like a fairly significant mistake of mine not to include it in that document.

"It's a terrible mistake that I did not put it in there."

'Lied to police'

The inquest previously heard Port repeatedly changed his account over Mr Walgate's death - initially telling emergency services he chanced upon the aspiring fashion designer slumped by the communal entrance to his flat on 19 June 2014, to later admitting he agreed to meet the young escort for sex.

Andrew O'Connor QC, counsel to the inquest, said: "Stephen Port lied to police about his dealings with Anthony, there were suspicions his death was caused by drugs, and you have a detailed account that he (Port) forced drugs on him (the rape complainant) on more than one occasion."

Mr O'Donnell replied: "Yes, you're absolutely right, that should have gone on that report."

The inquest hearings are looking at whether the victims' lives could have been saved had police acted differently.

Mr Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, were all found dead near Port's flat in Barking.

Port, now 46, was found guilty at the Old Bailey in 2016 of the four murders and sentenced to a whole-life order.