The inquests, delayed by the pandemic, into the deaths of the victims of serial killer Stephen Port who is now serving a whole life sentence, are due to begin soon. This really is a case that deserves watching and reporting because not only because they will provide some additional information to the families of the four young gay men who were murdered by Port, but also because it will hopefully air the failings of the Metropolitan Police as regards to their investigation of the murders.
What we know already is that the Metropolitan Police failed dismally to properly investigate Port and his activities. For the Met to miss one murder was bad enough but to miss two others and only really get into gear with the investigation after Port had murdered four people, is utterly appalling.
As expected the officers who were found to have ‘fallen short’ with regards to the investigation did not face any real sanction. Seventeen officers ranging in rank from police constable to inspector were investigated with regards to misconduct but as of July 2019 when the Guardian reported on this story, no disciplinary action has been taken against any of the officers.
The Guardian said:
None of the 17 police officers investigated for misconduct over the case of serial killer Stephen Port, who was convicted of the murders of four men, will face disciplinary action, the police watchdog has said.
However, the Independent Office of Police Conduct did identify “systemic failings” within the Metropolitan police, and nine officers will be required to improve their standards.
Port, 44, is serving a whole life sentence after being convicted in 2016 of the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25. His trial heard that police had failed to link the deaths.
This case had a number of issues surrounding it that should have raised red flags such as a suspicious and ultimately proven to be fake suicide from one of the victims and the fact that three of the bodies were all found dumped in a nearby churchyard and another was found outside Port’s flat.
It’s pretty obvious in this case that the Met failed really badly with this investigation and that words of advice from the IOPC about the quality of future investigations might not be enough. I’m not a police officer but my instinct would be if a body was found dumped in a churchyard would be to do house to house enquiries and as Port’s flat was very close to the churchyard in question, such an enquiry might have uncovered Port’s involvement much earlier than the police did.
This looks like yet another case where police officers have failed in their duty to the public but where nothing has been done to punish the officers who failed so badly. I suspect that the outcome of the inquests into Stephen Port’s victims will cause further embarrassment to the Met which will be added to their current travails related to criminal cops and ongoing allegations of two tier policing.
This is a terrible case where a serial killer was assisted in his crimes by police incompetence. Let’s hope that the inquest reveals to the public the extent of the failures by the Met in this case.
