MPS has ‘still not learnt from failures’ in Stephen Port case, says HMICFRS

A report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) warned “history could repeat itself” after it found officers at the force were still “inexperienced, untrained and poorly supervised” following a report of death.

Between June 2014 and September 2015, Port drugged, sexually assaulted and murdered four young men in East London. Despite the obvious similarities between the deaths, inspectors said the MPS failed to recognise that they might be connected.

“They even failed to recognise, until after the last death, that Port’s four young victims – Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25 – had been murdered,” said HMICFRS.

“Had the police conducted a professional and thorough investigation after Anthony Walgate’s death, it is entirely possible that the other three men would still be alive.

“But the MPS’s initial response to each of the deaths was reprehensible. As the coroner who held inquests into the four deaths said, there were a ‘large number of very serious and very basic investigative failings’.”

Inspectors said the force’s response was “wholly unacceptable” and officers failed to carry out “even the most basic inquiries”.

The MPS made a voluntary referral to the then Independent Police Complaints Commission in October 2015 after it identified concerns regarding the initial investigations into the men’s deaths.

Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said they were “sincere in our desire to make real change to minimise the chance of a case like this ever happening again”.

She added: “We know we fell short in this case and the families did not get the service they needed or deserved.

“It is important we look again at this area to see what more we need to do to support families through such difficult times.”

HMICFRS carried out the inspection between June and November 2022 following the inquests into the four deaths. The report was commissioned by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

The inspection looked in detail at MPS processes and ways of working when dealing with unexpected deaths and what happened in the Port case.

Inspectors concluded that the MPS’s “flawed handling” of the Port investigations could broadly be explained by the following issues:

• Poor training and supervision for inexperienced police officers responding to unexpected deaths;
• Unacceptable record keeping, confusing case management systems and poor handling of property and exhibits;
• Confusing policy and guidance; and
• Inadequate intelligence and crime analysis processes, which make it difficult for officers to link deaths.

HMICFRS found that the MPS had made some improvements since the Port case, including better working arrangements between local officers and specialist murder investigation teams, and training and guidance for officers on chemsex.

However, inspectors also found that MPS officers admit they still rely on luck to identify links between deaths at a local level.

Inspectors have made 20 recommendations for the MPS, which include increasing the use of intelligence by officers responding to deaths and improving family liaison in unexpected death cases.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said: “Nearly eight years after Stephen Port murdered his last victim, the Met has still not learned enough from the calamitous litany of failures in that case. My thoughts remain with the family and friends of Port’s four victims.

“The Met made some changes soon after Port’s arrest. But in other respects, it took a high-profile coroner’s inquest and subsequent inspection by us to spur the Met into action.

“We regularly hear that the Met is inexperienced and that its resources are stretched, which we accept. But that doesn’t absolve the Met of its responsibility to meet basic requirements.

“From poor training and supervision to inadequate crime analysis processes, there are several explanations for why the Met got this so badly wrong.

“Issues with the Met’s culture and officers’ behaviour have been widely recognised. However, the Met’s problems with competence and professionalism run even deeper: too often, they don’t get the basics right.

“Our inspection has shown that history could repeat itself. That is why the Met must learn from its mistakes and act now on our recommendations, to keep all Londoners safe.”

The MPS was “very heavily criticised” in the recent report into its behaviour and culture conducted by Baroness Casey and Mr Parr noted the finding that it was “institutionally homophobic”.

“We considered whether homophobia explained, at least in part, why the MPS didn’t investigate the deaths caused by Stephen Port properly, and why it failed to provide bereaved friends and relatives with anything like an adequate and respectful service,” said Mr Parr.

“It is impossible to reach any definitive conclusions on these questions.

“Undoubtedly there were, and still are, homophobic officers serving in the MPS; equally, there was (at the time of the Port murders) a lack of understanding of the lifestyles of those they were investigating.

“But the evidence of this inspection points predominantly to the five failings listed above as the primary explanation for the MPS’s flawed investigations.”

Ms Rolfe said: “The deaths of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor were a tragedy and we are sincerely sorry we failed them and their families.

“While, as the inspection report acknowledges, we have worked hard since the murders to understand what went wrong and improve how we work, it highlights more we need to do.

“We have to get the basics right. That’s around how we train and support our officers to investigate deaths, identify suspicious circumstances and understand how protected characteristics may impact on those investigations.

“Our death investigation policy is sound, now it’s about turning policy into effective practice. To do this we have reviewed and updated our training for frontline officers and have begun a programme of enhanced training for their supervisors.

“We are also moving quickly on family liaison.

“We will fully consider the recommendations made by HMICFRS* and ensure these are not just fully addressed but embedded into our working practices. This is what we have been doing with previous recommendations from the coroner and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.”

Port was eventually arrested for murder in October 2015. In November 2016, he was convicted of all four murders and 22 offences against seven other men that had come to light after his arrest. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In late 2021, HM Coroner for East London, HHJ Sarah Munro KC (then QC), held inquests into all four murders. Based on evidence from the inquests, the coroner reported that there were matters of concern which, without attention, might result in more deaths. She stated that: “Perhaps the most striking of these is the large number of very serious and very basic investigative failings…”

Because of the coroner’s concerns, on December 3, 2021, London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime wrote to HMICFRS requesting that it inspects the MPS’s current standard of death investigations. She wanted assurance that the force had learnt from these cases.

Port had no criminal convictions when he committed his first murder, but he had already come to the attention of the police on two occasions.

“Although these incidents did not lead to any fatalities, their circumstances were such that they should have set alarm bells ringing at the outset. But the police response to the first death and the three that followed was wholly unacceptable,” said HMICFRS.

“The police often failed to carry out even the most basic inquiries. They treated each case in isolation and didn’t find or even look for the obvious links between them. They decided that each cause of death was a self-administered drug overdose and invariably didn’t look for anything more. Even when the same officers attended different deaths in almost identical circumstances, their suspicions weren’t aroused.

“Furthermore, the MPS’s interaction with the victims’ families wasn’t good enough. It was uncaring and, at times, virtually non-existent.

“The young men’s families and friends refused to accept the MPS’s original conclusions. Because of their persistence, the police eventually identified Port from a CCTV recording that showed him with his last victim, Jack Taylor. It was only then, a month after Jack’s death, that they recognised the links between the four deaths that should have been obvious throughout.

“The reinvestigation that followed, called Operation Lilford, was swift, painstaking and thorough as the original investigation should have been.

“Detectives arrested Port and charged him with all four murder offences. They then identified other victims who were still alive and charged Port with further offences.”

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I commissioned this independent report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate due to my concerns around errors in the police investigation that meant that Stephen Port was not stopped when he should have been. We owe it to Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth, Jack Taylor and their loved ones to do everything possible to ensure this can never happen again.

“We must confront the institutional homophobia Baroness Casey’s Review found in the Met and the operational failures in the force which today’s report have laid bare.

“Every Londoner – irrespective of sexuality, gender or race – has the right to have their allegations of crime taken seriously by police and the Met must ensure the quality of their initial investigations is of a higher standard. Never again should the integrity of a case be compromised by the victim’s circumstances or background. This is absolutely vital to rebuilding the confidence of London’s LGBTQI+ community in our police.

“Sir Mark and the new team at the top of the Met have assured me that they are committed to reform and getting the basics right.

“As mayor, I will continue to support and hold the Met to account to in delivering a police service that is trusted, representative and delivers the highest possible service to every community in our city as we work to build a safer London for everyone.”