Grindr's Grim Reaper: The Lethal Online Enticements of Stephen Port

What if a popular dating app became the perfect hunting ground for a serial killer? On this gripping episode of Murder and Mimosas, we unravel the bone-chilling story of Stephen Port, a man who transformed from a troubled child into a notorious predator using platforms like Grindr to lure his unsuspecting victims. We kick off with Stephen's unsettling early life, his struggles, and peculiarities, followed by his journey from art school dropout to an inconspicuous chef. Learn how Anthony Walgate, an aspiring fashion designer, tragically fell into Stephen's deadly trap, marking the beginning of a horrifying series of events.

As we continue, discover how Stephen's cunning use of technology allowed him to commit his heinous acts undetected, despite leaving clues that should have led to his capture much sooner. Hear the disturbing details of a suspicious suicide note from one of his victims, Daniel, and the pivotal CCTV footage that finally put an end to Stephen's reign of terror. We'll also discuss the police's handling of the case, drawing parallels to other infamous killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, and examine the institutional failings that allowed Stephen to evade justice for so long. To cap it all, we explore the bizarre twist of his appearance on UK MasterChef, adding another layer to this already unsettling case. Tune in for an in-depth investigation and analysis, and stay connected through our social media for more updates and discussions.

Sources:
Stephen Port | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3282343/Moment-chef-accused-poisoning-killing-four-gay-men-met-online-appeared-television-alongside-Celebrity-Masterchef-contestants.html

https://www.bcu.ac.uk/social-sciences/blog/the-grindr-killer

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/stephen-port-grindr-killer-victim-fake-note-b1947849.html

Chapters

• 0:00 Murder and Mimosas True Crime Podcast
• 12:23 Online Dating Killer
• 19:43 Disturbing True Crime Investigations

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Darkcast Network. Welcome to the dark side of podcasting. Welcome to Murder and Mimosas, a true crime podcast brought to you by a mother and daughter duo.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Bringing you murder stories with a mimosas in hand.

Speaker 1: 0:18

Just a quick disclaimer before we get started. Our show is Murder and Mimosas it's a true crime podcast. Before we get started, our show is Murder and Mimosas it's a true crime podcast. This means that we do discuss crimes, including, but not limited to, disappearances, murder and sexual assault. All our episodes are told with the respect of the victims and the victims' families in mind. We strive to ensure that we provide factual information, but some information is more verifiable than others. With that, grab your mimosas and let's dive in. Welcome back to Murder and Mimosas. I'm Danica and I'm also solo today. Shannon is sick with pneumonia. We both just came back from Denver from the True Crime Podcast Festival, which was honestly phenomenal, but Shannon was sick the entire time, so she's taking some time to recover and get better. So it's just me, but I do have a case that I wanted to cover with you guys today. It's one that came across my social media, specifically Instagram, and it just kind of intrigued me, and so I posted it to our social media to get feedback from you guys, and we had quite a bit of feedback saying that you guys would be interested in us covering it. So here I am.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Let's start off by talking about Stephen Port. He was born February 22nd of 1975. However, just a year later his family moved to Dangenham in England. I'm not able to find just a whole lot out about his childhood, but he does have some things that we've heard before. He was considered to be a bit of a quiet kid, also kind of a loner, and as we know from experience doing this, those children seem to be targets for bullies quite often, and Stephen was no exception. Even as he grew up, stephen still seemed to hold on to childish behaviors and quirks. One of his exes even cited that this childish demeanor is one of the reasons that they broke up.

Speaker 1: 2:35

At 16, stevens decided to head off to art school, but he ended up leaving art school pretty quickly and changed paths, deciding to study to be a chef. A neighbor of Stephen's recalls him playing with children's toys even as a grown adult, and as far as I could tell, there were no young children in their home because he was still living with his parents at that time. So I'm not really sure if these were toys that were like left over from when he was younger or where these young children's toys came from. As far as I could tell, he was living with his families, even in his mid-20s when he came out as gay, and he would continue to live there and work as a chef. He was working at the stagecoach Bustach Bus Depot until he was in his 30s.

Speaker 1: 3:28

At that time he moved into a flat at Barking London where he began inviting men over from different like dating apps, hookup apps, escort sites, things of that nature. He tended to use fake names, fake pictures and also, at times, fake information on his profile. He would use names like Shy Guy or Top Fun Joe or Basketball Guy, as well as many others, but those were ones that came up quite a bit. His bio on these different apps and sites kind of read along the same lines each time Something about him being a shy, polite guy who likes to keep in shape and have a good time. He would say he was romantic and caring or that he would take great care of his partner. He would say he was successful, educated and determined, and he often wrote that he was looking for fun or a date or a boyfriend who met the requirements of 18 to 24 years of age slim, a smooth type, but not too camp, someone with lots of energy and likes to have a good time, he seemed to have a preference of slim men who were under 30. He seemed to have a preference of slim men who were under 30.

Speaker 1: 4:45

June 15th of 2014, stephen logged into an escort site called Sleepy Boys. On that site he found Anthony Walgate, who he found attractive and wanted to spend an evening with. Anthony at the time was a 23-year-old aspiring fashion designer who would, at times, moonlight as an escort to make extra money. However, anthony's close friend said that Anthony was picky about the jobs he would take. He was very particular on if he would accept a date through the escort site. He was not too shy to turn down a job if he felt like the vibes were off.

Speaker 1: 5:23

I guess that Steven, or whatever name he used on Sleepy Boys that day seemed to be okay in vibes and I'm sure that it didn't hurt that Steven was offering Anthony 800 pounds to come stay the night on June 17th, and for those in the United States that's roughly a thousand.

Speaker 1: 5:41

US dollars, despite Anthony being cautious and Stephen's promise of money. He of course thought this would be great, but it would end up very poorly for Anthony. A couple days later, on June 19th, anthony's body was propped up in the entrance of Stephen's building and Stephen called 999. And again, for those in the US, it's the same thing as 911. When the authorities arrived, stephen claimed that he thought the man called the man because he didn't want people to know who's associated. But it was Anthony, was drunk or was having a medical emergency, and that was why he called the authorities. Because you, he was just being a good citizen and concerned. Of course, anthony was dead at that time and he had GHB in his pocket.

Speaker 1: 6:34

The authorities were confused. You know how did he get here? Why is he in front of this building? They have questions and start to dig into it. As they investigate, like they and as they do, they come upon the fact that it was actually Stephen who had initiated conversation with Anthony through the escort site and invited him to his home for money all of those things Stephen left out during his conversation with the police. According to him at the time, this was just a random guy. He had no idea who he was or why he was there or what was wrong with him. Of course, this is a major red flag to the police officers. So they confront Stephen With this information and he claims that Anthony had actually overdosed On GHB and he decided to move Anthony outside because he feared that he would be implicated in the death, which in hindsight, since we're talking about it, we know he should have been, because this is all sketchy. But the authorities just take it at face value and go with it. Just take it at face value and go with it. Now they do hit Stephen with perverting the course of justice, as well as making a false statement to police in which he's arrested, but since these are minor charges, he is released on bail. This run-in with the law and these charges do not deter Stephen from going right back on the apps to cruise for more men that fit his preferences.

Speaker 1: 8:07

August 23rd he matched with 22-year-old Gabriel. Now Gabriel immigrated from Slovakia Because of his sexual preferences. He didn't feel like he was accepted there, didn't feel as safe, so he moved somewhere where he could be himself without that fear. His family and friends described him as being a loving guy, someone who's really caring and also a very talented artist. Now this sweet and very loved man would meet his end at the hands of Stephen On August 25th. Gabriel would end up with a lethal dose of GHB.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Now Stephen seemed to have learned some things after his run with the wall with Anthony, because this time he moves Gabriel's body and he props it up against a wall in the cemetery of St Margaret's Church. Now, while he did move it, he only moved it about a mile from his home, so it's not far. He also is not the one to call 999 this time, as he doesn't want anything to do with the police. To me, there being these glaring similarities in this short amount of time between Gabriel and Anthony, either the police are not connecting those dots or they just don't care, and I'm unclear which one it is. But just like Anthony, Gabriel is found with a bottle of GHB in his pocket. But Stephen did take Gabriel's phone. My, this is probably because Anthony was connected to Stephen last time through the escorting site and he does not want to be connected to Gabriel in any way and takes the phone to make sure that that can't happen.

Speaker 1: 9:58

There didn't seem to be very much traction from the start in Gabriel's case. Didn't seem to be very much traction from the start in Gabriel's case, but Stephen is a bit paranoid and decides to hatch a plan to keep the police off his tracks or to deter them from considering him as a suspect, because, on September 18th, stephen arranges to meet with another man, daniel Whitworth. Daniel, like Stephen, is a chef. His family talked about how much he loved the outdoors and just how amazing of a person he was. Stephen, though, would again take the life of a young man who thinks he's just meeting a guy looking for a good time or a relationship.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Stephen, true to his MO, gave Daniel a lethal dose of ghb. Then, in an effort to cover his tracks again, steven deleted his account off of the app that he used to correspond with daniel to avoid there being any connection to daniel. He then proceeds to prop daniel up in the same church cemetery where he had left gab and, just like Gabriel and Anthony, stephen left a bottle of GHB with Daniel's body and took his phone. However, this time he did something a little different. He fabricated an entire suicide note that said Daniel took his life due to this overwhelming guilt of killing Gabriel. Daniel's family is not buying this, but the police are totally fine with this explanation and did not investigate the two men's death. We are going to take a quick break for an ad, but when we come back I will read you this note and we can talk about some of the kind of weird red flags that went up for me. Reading it, that I feel like the police should have noticed.

Speaker 2: 11:54

Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm Jess. We're the hosts of the Wicked Wanderings podcast. Join us every Wednesday as we explore the mysteries of true crime, the paranormal and all things creepy. We'll take you on a journey through well-known cases and stories off the beaten path that are sure to leave an impression. So stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1: 12:23

Okay. So now this suicide note, which to me was just very odd, I'll read it to you in full, the way it was written. There are some grammatical errors, but I'm willing to read it the way that it was found. It says, quote I'm sorry to everyone, mostly my family, but I can't go on anymore. I took the life of my friend, gabriel Klein. 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, 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 knew I would go to prison if I went to the police and I can't do that to my family and at least this way I can be with Gabriel. I hope he will forgive me. Btw, please do not blame the guy I was with last night. We only had sex, then I left. He knew nothing of what I have done. I have taken what G. I have left with sleeping pills. So if does kill me, it is what I deserve. Feeling dizzy now as took 10 minutes ago, so, hoping you understand my writing, I dropped my phone on my way here, so should be in the grass somewhere. Sorry to everyone. Love always, daniel pw.

Speaker 1: 13:47

Now, the thing that was weird to me personally is the whole btw part. Why even mention the guy you were with last night and saying, like don't, I don't? To me it doesn't make any sense, because now the police would know that he was with someone the night before and they would want to know who and maybe would try and track that down more. I just don't understand the whole premise behind that. I don't think police would assume that the guy you were with last night would know anything, anything. So the fact that you would even mention it and bring it up is like shining a big red light on that person, like, hey, they maybe know something. But that's just my opinion. It was just odd to me that that part was added. It seemed like steven was trying really hard to cover his tracks, but if the police were to like look into a little further, I think it would really have hindered him versus helping him. Anywho, on March 23rd 2015, stephen finds himself in front of a judge, with justice coming down Not for the murder of the three men he's killed. He's actually pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to eight months of prison. However, on June 4th he was released on house arrest.

Speaker 1: 15:11

This short stint with the judicial system did not keep Stephen from using Grindr as his hunting grounds again. He ended up connecting with 25-year-old Jack Taylor on September 13th. He was a forklift driver at a warehouse and he was still not out about his sexuality to those closest to him. The night that he and Stephen connected on the app, stephen was at the trades hall club and he heads home, calls a cab cab and decides to meet steven in barking. The two headed to steven's loft and the next day jack was found propped up in the exact same position, in the exact same spot as gabriel and daniel had been previously, this time with, of course, a bottle of GHB, but also with a tourniquet and medical wipes. Luckily, this would be Stephen's last victim and the one that the police would actually investigate. It would take less than a month for them to find the CCTV footage of Stephen and Jack walking to Stephen's loft together. This finally led not only to the arrest of Stephen for the murder of Jack, but investigations into the death of the other men because they are so similar.

Speaker 1: 16:36

On November 23rd 2016,. Stephen was convicted of assaults of penetration, rapes and the murders of Anthony, gabriel, daniel and Jack, as well as three rapes of other men he drugged, but they, luckily, were able to leave with their life. Also, he was convicted of 10 counts of administering a substance with intent and four sexual assaults. Luckily for everyone, he was found guilty on all accounts. Two days after the conviction, mr Justice Openshaw sentenced Stephen to life imprisonment, providing some justice to the 11 men in total that he victimized and their families of the ones that he murdered.

Speaker 1: 17:22

I was personally really frustrated researching this case because it kind of gave me Dahmer vibes, minus like the cannibalism part. You know he drugged, raped young men and, despite some pretty clear signs and outrage from the families from the murdered men, these cases were pretty quickly just written off. They were fine with taking things at face value. You know what Stephen said, what this so-called suicide note said they didn't really do much investigation, too much investigation. I will say that the authorities were investigated by the Independent Police Complaint Commission to see if any discrimination played part in the actions or decisions of the 17 police officers that investigated this. They were all under investigation. Also, the authorities did look into 58 deaths that involved GHB from the previous four years in London, though I could not find anything that said whether or not they were able to link any more of those to Stephen, but it just gave me that whole thing with Dahmer. I also couldn't find if they decided discrimination of gay men played any part in the actions of the investigators.

Speaker 1: 18:37

The reason, though, that this came across my social media was because we talked about the fact that Stephen was a chef, and if any of you watch the Cooking Channel, you have heard of MasterChef. I'm sure maybe you haven't, but MasterChef is a pretty well-known cooking show, and Stephen happened to be on it, the celebrity MasterChef version specifically. Now it is the one in the UK, but he is on there with Emma Barton, who is an actress, and JB Gill, who is a actress, and JB Gill, who is a singer. They are seen on there, and there's actually a picture circulating on social media that you might can find, where you can see Emma, jb and Steven all standing behind like in a kitchen cooking together.

Speaker 1: 19:33

So that was just really crazy, that this seemingly normal man who is a chef, who's met these celebrities, who seems to be really good at his job. No one knew this was going on. You know he's killing these men and trying to cover up his tracks and then to find out that there are these other guys that he had drugged and raped who got away with their lives. I guess he decided to escalate, or maybe one of them threatened to contact authorities on him, but it was just a really wild case to investigate and research because it to me felt so similar to what happened with Dahmer and his victims. So let me know what you think about this one. It was really interesting to me, but let us know if it was interesting to you as well.

Speaker 2: 20:35

We always recommend more bubbly and less OJ Cheers.

Speaker 1: 20:42

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