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THE FINAL WALK
Haunting images show final moments of man walking with ‘gay serial killer’ back to flat ‘where he was drugged and murdered’
Pair hooked up via gay social network Grindr
FAMILY members wiped away tears today as haunting images of the final moments of the final alleged murder victim of "Grindr serial killer" Stephen Port were played in court.
Port, 41, met 25-year-old Jack Taylor at Barking Station after they hooked up via the gay social network, jurors heard.
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A series of CCTV clips apparently showed the dark-clothed figure of Port, with a mobile phone in his hand, on his way to meet Mr Taylor at 3am on Sunday September 13, 2014.
The footage charted the pair's journey back towards the defendant's one-bedroom flat in Cooke Street.
It allegedly showed Port looming above the younger man, who appeared slight, walking side-by-side with him.
The families of Port's alleged murder victims appeared grim faced, some in tears, as the clips were shown at the Old Bailey.
The prosecution said that, similarly to the previous three alleged murder victims, Mr Taylor died a short time later from an overdose of date rape drug GHB.
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Jurors have heard that four hours after the meeting at Barking station, Port had blocked his Grindr account, effectively wiping out their communication.
Just after 1pm the following day, within 36 hours of meeting his alleged killer, Mr Taylor's body was discovered by a bin man propped up in the same graveyard as two of Port's earlier alleged victims, the court heard.
Despite Mr Taylor being the fourth young man to be found in similar circumstances in 15 months, police initially treated his death as non-suspicious, the court has heard.
Jurors were told that no CCTV cameras covered the area of the churchyard where Mr Taylor's body was found.
Mr Taylor had been living with his parents in Dagenham and worked as a forklift truck driver.
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Port has pleaded not guilty to 29 offences against a total of 12 men - including four murders, seven rapes, four sex assaults and administering a substance with intent.
Yesterday a jury was shown pictures of Port's flat taken by police after the death of his first alleged murder victim Anthony Walgate, 23.
Among the items photographed were sex drugs and baby oil.
Port pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation Mr Walgate’s death and was sentenced to eight months imprisonment on 23 March 2016.
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But by the time he was jailed Port had allegedly gone on to claim the lives of two more young men.
Slovakian Gabriel Kovari, 22, and 21-year-old chef Daniel Whitworth, from Gravesend, in Kent, were allegedly murdered within weeks of each other in August and September 2014.
Both, like Mr Walgate, had died of GHB poisoning and were found in an almost identical position in St Margaret’s churchyard, in Abbey Green.
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Port was arrested on October 15 last year, a month after Mr Taylor's body was found near the same churchyard.
The jury has also been shown videos including one of Port allegedly raping an unconscious man at a drug fuelled New Year's Eve party.
The trial continues.
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