Alleged Killer Port Faces More Attack Charges

A man accused of drugging and murdering four gay men has been charged with 17 further sexual offences against eight more men, it has emerged.

He sat with his hands clasped between his legs, whispering “yes” when asked to confirm his name and then entering not guilty pleas to all charges.

Port also faces four alternative charges of manslaughter for each of the murder counts, which he also denies.

The deaths of the four young men, whose bodies were discovered in Barking between June 2014 and September 2015, were not initially linked together by authorities, despite concerns being raised by the gay press.

Stephen Port, from Barking in east London, was charged with four counts of murder previous year but the new allegations relate to eight living complainants.

Investigators said he preyed on his other victims in a string of sexual assaults between August 2011 and his arrest in October 2015, the Evening Standard reported.

Stephen Port, 41, is accused of drugging and raping a series of other men, the Old Bailey heard today.

His trial is due to start on 4 October and could last up to 10 weeks.

Stephen Port, 41, of Barking, east London, is said to have killed his victims with fatal doses of the party drug GHB, known as liquid ecstasy, after inviting them back to his flat. He was a fashion and design student at Middlesex University who was originally from Hull but living in Barnet.

Police did not initially think the deaths were related, but after tracing the movements of one of the victims, they questioned Port and decided that the deaths were connected.

Mr Taylor, from Dagenham, was a night-duty fork-lift truck driver at a warehouse and was last seen by friends on a night out in Barking on the previous night.

The dead men have previously been named as: Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23; Gabriel Kovari, 22; Daniel Whitworth, 21; and Jack Taylor, 25.

The Met Police referred the handling of the investigation to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.