‘Fake suicide note’ written by ‘gay serial killer’ was ‘left with body of one of his victims to try and divert suspicion’
Trial of suspected murderer Stephen Port hears he allegedly wrote fake suicide note to frame his third victim for the murder of another man
SUSPECTED Grindr killer Stephen Port left a fake suicide note on his third victim in an attempt to frame him for killing another man, his trial heard.
The letter was found in 21-year-old Daniel Whitworth's left hand when his body was discovered slumped against a gravestone at St Margaret's Church in Barking, east London.
He was discovered just weeks after the body of Gabriel Kovari, 22, was found in the same graveyard.
The scrawled note read: "I am sorry to everyone, mainly my family, but I can't go on anymore, I took the life of my friend Gabriel Kline, we was just having some fun at a mate's place and I got carried away and gave him another shot of G.
"I didn't notice while we was having sex that he had stopped breathing.
"I tried everything to get him to breathe again but it was too late, it was an accident, but I blame myself for what happened and I didn't tell my family I went out.
"I know I would go to prison if I go to the police and I can't do that to my family and at least this way I can at least be with Gabriel again, I hope he will forgive me.
"BTW [by the way] Please do not blame the guy I was with last night, we only had sex then I left, he knows nothing of what I have done.
"I have taken what g I have left with sleeping pills so if it does kill me it's what I deserve.
"Feeling dizey [sic] now as took 10 min ago so hoping you understand my writing.
"I dropped my phone on way here so it should be in the grass somewhere. Sorry to everyone.
"Love always Daniel P W."
Daniel's friend Katie Impey told jurors she is convinced he would never kill himself.
"He said it was the most selfish thing he thought anyone could do", she said.
Earlier at Thursday's hearing
Sharon Port, 44, described to the Old Bailey how her 41-year-old brother told her in August 2014 that a man had died in his flat.
Stephen Port is accused of spiking young men with date rape drug GHB so he could carry out his fantasies of raping their unconscious bodies.
The chef would meet his victims on dating sites including Grindr and Fitlads before taking them back to his flat in Barking, east London, where he is alleged to have attacked 12 men.
He is accused of murdering four of them - Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and 25-year-old Jack Taylor, who all died from drug overdoses, a jury has heard.
Port is said to have dumped one body outside his block of flats, and the other three in a nearby churchyard.
Today Sharon Port told the Old Bailey how she and Stephen grew up in Dagenham, east London, before he left school at 16.
She said he went to art college for a year but after their father could no longer afford the fees, he trained as a chef.
Ms Port, who lives in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, said her brother worked hard, and eventually became a catering manager at a bus garage in West Ham, east London.
He was jailed in March last year for perverting the course of justice for lying in a witness statement he made following Mr Walgate's death, the jury was told.
His sister said that after his release in July that year, he took up a stocktaking job at stores including Waitrose and Poundland, before going into sales.
She told the court she realised her brother was gay when he was in his 20s, and their mother found "a lot of things" in his bedroom.
She said their mother had a problem with it as she wanted grandchildren and was "a little bit old school".
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Port eventually came out aged 26, his sister said, and she met a few of his boyfriends over the years.
She said he used to meet people at gay clubs in central London, but later started meeting people online.
As he grew older, she said he seemed to start enjoying being with younger men in their early 20s.
She said Port moved into his flat in Barking around 2005, which was a part rent, part mortgage property run by a housing trust.
Asked if her brother had a passion for particular things, Ms Port said: "It used to be music and films. Not so much now. He does love cars."
In August 2014, she had just started a new job, and phoned her brother for a catch-up.
But she said he sounded "very distressed", and they did not speak until a couple of days later.
Ms Port said: "He was still distressed.
"I think we spoke on the third day. I had just finished my shift. I was worried about him.
"I just asked him to tell me why he was distressed. He didn't want to tell me at first. I just wanted to know if he was okay.
"We have always been a close brother and sister. He used to get bullied at school. I have always been there for him."
Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, asked: "Did he tell you what was troubling him?"
She replied: "He just said there was a body in his flat, and I just told him to go the police right away."
Ms Port was told by her brother it "looked like he was asleep", the court heard.
Asked if he had explained what had happened, Ms Port said: "Just that he stayed the night with my brother and when he woke up in the morning, he wasn't moving.
"They had taken some drugs but I didn't know what."
Mr Rees said: "During this conversation, did your brother give any indication as to how long this person had been in this state?"
She replied: "A day and a night."
Port told his sister he had been at work while the body was in his bedroom in the flat, and was going to go the police station, jurors were told.
Asked how she felt, Ms Port said: "It is not the sort of thing you hear everyday.
"I was a bit worried. I told him to drop everything and go to the police station, and then to ring me.
"He said he was leaving. I did try to call him a few times but the mobile just went to voicemail."
Port later text her saying; "I am going to the police station now, wish me luck", the court was told.
His sister visited him at his flat the next day with her partner, and they took him out for lunch.
She said her brother didn't say anything about his experience at the police station either, just that he was on bail and had to report back in a month or two.
She added: "So I assumed it was all sorted. I just came home and that was that really."
In March 2015, shortly before Port went to prison for perverting the course of justice over lying about a witness statement following Mr Walgate's death, he told her more about the body in the flat.
Ms Port said: "He told me his name was Anthony and he was about 21, 22."
She said her borther told her Anthony was Lithuanian, and they had met online.
Around the same time, she also found out her brother worked as an escort, after seeing a text on his phone which said it would cost £165, the court heard.
But she said she didn't raise it with him to save him embarrassment.
Port, of Barking, east London, denies four counts of murder, four alternative counts of manslaughter, 10 counts of administering a substance with intent, seven counts of rape and four counts of assault by penetration.
Also giving evidence today, a dog walker told how she found the bodies of two of the victims of an alleged gay serial killer in the same churchyard just three weeks apart.
When she stumbled on the second body she said she thought: "Oh please, let that be somebody asleep - it cannot be the same thing again, in exactly the same place."
Barbara Denham discovered the bodies of Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth in St Margaret's churchyard in Barking, east London in 2014.
Ms Denham told the Old Bailey how she discovered the body of Mr Kovari slumped against a wall in the churchyard at about 9am on August 28 that year.
Ms Denham said: "Because there was no movement, nothing, that is what made me decide to turn back, to try and get his attention.
"As you can see from the statement, whatever I did to try and get his attention, there was nothing, no movement whatsoever.
"I just touched him slightly on the ankle.
"He just felt cold to the touch. I didn't touch touch, I just put my finger in."
She said he was wearing dark glasses which were slightly skewed, and she could see his eyes were open and glazed.
She called the police, who arrived shortly afterwards.
Ms Denham told the court she walked her border collie through the churchyard daily, and occasionally twice a day.
She had walked round the same area at about 5pm the day before, but had not seen anything.
Ms Denham said: "There was no sign of anybody there at that time."
Just over three weeks later, on September 20, Ms Denham found the body of chef Mr Whitworth in the same spot as she had found Mr Kovari.
The jury has been told Port allegedly tried to frame Mr Whitworth for one of the deaths, by planting a sham suicide note confessing to killing Mr Kovari.
Ms Denham said her first thought was "oh please, let that be somebody asleep."
She added: "I have seen him there, and I thought it cannot be the same thing again, in exactly the same place."
Getting visibly upset on the witness stand, she said she was "so sad" to find out it was.
She said she could see he was clutching a note in a plastic folder.
Ms Denham continued: "I didn't go anywhere near, I didn't touch that."
She said she touched the body on the stomach.
Ms Denham said: "The same touch as I did on the other young chap, and again there was no obvious to response to anybody being alive. Very cold, very bluish tinge.
"Again, both bodies looked like they were asleep really, but obviously they weren't."
Police were called, who found on him a bottle of GBL - the liquid version of GHB - and the suicide note in his left hand, the court heard earlier.
The trial continues.
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