Ep.123 / The Grindr Killer: PART ONE | Police Caught Him Lying. Then Two More Men Died.

Police caught Stephen Port lying about how he found Anthony Walgate’s body. Why, then, were Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth later found dead near his home? In part one of HOT AIR’s Stephen Port true crime investigation, Josh follows the first three deaths, the evidence left behind, and the questions their loved ones kept asking. This episode discusses drugging, sexual assault, and murder. Part two follows Jack Taylor’s case, Port’s trial, and the inquests into the police investigations.

The Grindr Killer: Police Caught Him Lying. Then Two More Men Died.

Stephen Port had lied to police about finding Anthony Walgate’s body. Investigators knew it. Yet before he was convicted for that lie, Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth were dead. In part one of HOT AIR’s two-part true crime investigation, we look at the first three deaths—and the questions that should have been asked sooner.

A young man is found outside an apartment building in East London. The man who calls emergency services says he happened upon the body, but that story begins to unravel. Two months later, another young man is found in a nearby churchyard. Three weeks after that, a third is discovered against the same churchyard wall. If you have heard this case described only as the story of the “Grindr Killer,” you may already know Stephen Port’s name. You may know far less about Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, and Daniel Whitworth, or how much information pointed toward Port before the deaths were connected. Those are the questions at the heart of this episode.

Three men whose lives were more than a case file

Anthony Walgate was twenty-three, from Hull, and studying fashion design in London. His mother described him as clever, funny, and talented, with ambitions to become a designer. Gabriel Kovari was twenty-two and had moved from Slovakia to London. His family remembered his kindness and artistic gifts. Daniel Whitworth was twenty-one, worked as a chef, and had a long-term partner. Each man had relationships, plans, and people who noticed when an account of his death did not make sense. Their lives should not be reduced to the app or website through which Port encountered them.

Port used several online platforms to contact men, including Grindr, Fitlads, and Sleepyboy. “Grindr Killer” became the widely recognized name for the case, but it can give the wrong impression that the platform explains the crimes. Port was responsible for them. He used false names, secretly administered GHB to men, and sexually assaulted them while they were incapacitated. Anthony, Gabriel, and Daniel received fatal doses, as did a fourth man, Jack Taylor, whose story continues in part two. Other men survived Port’s assaults and later gave evidence about what he had done. Meeting someone online was not consent to being drugged, assaulted, or killed.

Anthony Walgate and the first false account

On June 17, 2014, Anthony arranged to meet Port in Barking. Anthony sometimes worked as an escort and took precautions before meeting clients. He gave friends the address where he was going and showed them a photograph of the man he expected to see. Port had offered him £800 for an overnight meeting; the judge who later sentenced Port concluded that he had neither the money nor an intention to pay. Anthony reached Barking station at around 10:15 p.m. His phone was not used again. What happened inside Port’s flat was later reconstructed through the criminal trial, but Anthony’s friends already knew where he had gone and whom he had planned to meet.

In the early hours of June 19, Port called emergency services and claimed he had found Anthony collapsed outside his building. Anthony’s body was against a wall near the entrance. A small bottle of GHB had been placed with his belongings, and his phone was missing. Other physical details raised questions: his boxer shorts were inside out and back to front, his jeans were open, and there was bruising on his arm. An initial post-mortem examination did not establish a cause of death, so samples were sent for toxicology. Those results would not arrive until September. In the meantime, police had a body, an account from the caller, and friends who could identify the man Anthony had gone to meet.

The caller’s story changed. Port first said he had merely found Anthony outside. He later admitted Anthony had been in his flat but claimed Anthony had taken drugs himself and that he had moved the body outside in a panic. Police learned of a previous allegation that Port had drugged and raped a former partner; that allegation had not resulted in a prosecution. Port also made a remark during questioning about an earlier incident at Barking station, but officers did not follow it up through the available police record. Port was charged with perverting the course of justice for lying about Anthony’s death and released on bail. He was not charged with murder. The later toxicology result showed that Anthony had died with a fatal level of GHB in his body, but it did not, on its own, establish who had administered it.

The distinction matters because Port had created a scene meant to support his explanation. A bottle near a body can suggest a voluntary overdose if investigators do not ask how it got there. A missing phone can prevent them from quickly tracing a meeting. A witness who admits to one lie may appear to have finally told the truth when he offers a second story. Anthony’s friends had given investigators valuable information, and local officers sought help from specialist homicide investigators. The specialist team declined to take charge. The later inquests would scrutinize that decision and the investigation that followed. Anthony’s death was the first chance to stop Port before anyone else died.

Gabriel Kovari and the friend who kept looking

Gabriel met Port online while looking for a place to live. He moved into Port’s flat on August 23, 2014, and sent a friend photographs from inside, along with a map pin showing where he was. Days later, Gabriel was dead. On August 28, a dog walker found his body against a wall in St Margaret’s churchyard, a short distance from Port’s home. His phone was missing, and a small bottle was with him. Police did not initially treat the death as suspicious. Gabriel’s friends, however, tried to work out where he had been and what had happened after he moved. They had a location and were willing to follow it.

Their search took a deeply disturbing turn. One friend exchanged messages with someone online who appeared to know Gabriel and used the name “Jon Luck.” That person was Port, communicating under another identity while Gabriel’s loved ones searched for answers. Port gave different accounts of Gabriel’s whereabouts and inserted himself into conversations about the disappearance he had caused. At sentencing, the judge concluded that Port had secretly drugged Gabriel and intended to assault him while unconscious; the dose killed him. Toxicology results received in October showed a fatal level of GHB. By then, another young man had already been found in the same churchyard.

Daniel Whitworth and the note that told a lie

Daniel had communicated with Port online and went to meet him in Barking on September 18, 2014. He told his partner he would be late home, apparently expecting a short visit. Two days later, the same dog walker who found Gabriel discovered Daniel’s body against the same churchyard wall. Daniel’s phone was gone. There was a bottle with him, a blue bedsheet beneath him, and a note presented as though he had written it. It claimed Daniel had accidentally killed Gabriel by giving him GHB and had taken his own life because of it.

That note did two things for Port: it offered an explanation for two deaths and falsely blamed one victim for the other. But investigators had not established that Gabriel and Daniel even knew each other. Police asked Daniel’s father whether part of the note looked like his son’s handwriting. At the later inquests, his father and the officer gave conflicting accounts of his answer. Daniel’s father said he could not be sure; the officer said she understood him to have confirmed it. The note was treated as authentic. Investigators also had an address book containing Daniel’s handwriting but did not compare it with the supposed suicide note. A handwriting expert would later conclude that Port wrote it.

Daniel’s post-mortem examination did not immediately establish a cause of death. A pathologist observed bruising and recommended forensic examination of the bedsheet, but that examination was not done. The November toxicology result showed a fatal level of GHB. By then, the circumstances demanded difficult questions. Why had two young men been found against the same wall within weeks? Where were their phones? Was the note genuine? Could the man who had already lied about Anthony’s death be connected to either of them? Their families and friends were asking questions of their own. The three deaths were still not being investigated as the work of one murderer.

What part one leaves unanswered

Port eventually pleaded guilty to lying about Anthony’s death and received an eight-month prison sentence in March 2015. Gabriel and Daniel had been killed while he was out on bail for that offence. The conviction punished his false account of finding Anthony; it did not resolve what had happened to Anthony, Gabriel, or Daniel. For their loved ones, the official explanations remained painfully incomplete. The full story of how the cases were connected, and what investigators learned from men who survived Port’s assaults, belongs to part two. So does Jack Taylor’s story. He deserves the same care and attention as the three men at the center of this first episode.

You can listen to “The Grindr Killer: Police Caught Him Lying. Then Two More Men Died. (Part 1)” on HOT AIR with Joshua Robert. Part two follows Jack’s case, Port’s trial, and the inquests that examined the police response. Follow @_hotairpod on Instagram and TikTok, or visit hotairwithjoshuarobert.com to shop merch and submit listener stories or topic suggestions. This account draws on the coroner’s report, the judge’s sentencing remarks, and the independent inspection of the police response.