A date rape serial killer boasted about his intellect and shared his obsession with childish films such as The Transformers in letters sent from prison.
Twisted Stephen Port – who murdered four men after meeting them on sex app Grindr – claimed he was a genius in letters from his cell.
But author Sebastian Murphy-Bates, who wrote the letters while researching his book about the serial killer, says he was obsessed with 'childish concerns.'
While on trial for more than 20 offences against 11 men – including the murders of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor - Port's notes from prison were "witless," says Murphy-Bates.
Port was handed a whole life sentence in 2016 for his chilling crimes - which the police failed to investigate adequately, allowing him to strike again and again.
He met his victims online then raped them at his East London flat after spiking their drinks with the drug GHB.
In his book, Sebastian tracks Port's life and crimes and questions the role of cops who failed victims.
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Here he writes about the unique experience of writing to the serial killer while he was in prison.
Easy Kills
"When serial killer Stephen Port was finally arrested, those following the case had many questions.
This 40-year-old has evaded police for 15 months while murdering Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor - dumping their corpses in public spaces in Barking, East London. How could this be so?
How could a balding chef get away with such brazen disposals of gay men? Could it be that he was so adept at covering his tracks that he fell in the category of criminal genius?
After Port’s conviction for the four murders - along with a slew of sex offences - at the Old Bailey, I wrote to him at HMP Frankland, Durham, to find out what sort of a man he was while researching for my book Easy Kills.
Putting it politely, my impression throughout our correspondence was not one of genius. Keeping it blunt - the bloke’s a moron.
His misspelt efforts were full of childish concerns and passions, juxtaposed with boasts about an intellect I’m sure was pure invention.
To try and get him onside, I’d posed as a young, gay man, who was insecure and much younger. This character was named Luke (as in Skywalker - Port loves Star Wars) Banes ( Google tells me this is someone or other in Transformers, a rabid obsession of Stephen’s).
I even sent him a picture, hoping that he’d be drawn further in and it worked. Either Stephen was too stupid to question the fact that I’d cut every person other than “Luke” out of the print-outs, or he was too randy to care and was happy to have the picture in his cell.
His witless notes hadn’t come as a shock. I’d already known from his dunderheaded denial of every single one of the 29 charges he’d faced that it wasn’t his brain that had kept him free for so long. So what had? Barking and Dagenham Metropolitan Police Service.
Port should have been stopped in June 2014, when he drugged fashion student Anthony to death after hiring him as an escort.
But police didn’t check his electronic devices, where a torrid search history of rape porn would have elucidated his intention for luring the young man to Barking. It gets worse.
For even without checking the devices, the police should still have viewed him with suspicion. He had, after all, been the one to pose as a bystander and call 999 about Anthony’s body.
He’d been found to have hired him as an escort, proving his call was a lie. He then admitted to moving the body to the street. Did he become a murder suspect? No, he was charged (and later convicted) for perverting the course of justice.
While awaiting his court date, he murdered Gabriel and Daniel, within weeks of one another, dumping their bodies in the same graveyard down the road from his flat.
Daniel’s body, in particular, was strewn with potential clues - the blanket atop which he had been placed and a note purporting to attest to his suicide. Police didn’t bother to test the blanket, which would later be found to have Port’s semen on it.
Nor did they probe the note, which was suspiciously preserved in a plastic wallet (somebody really wanted to convince them this was a suicide) and mentioned “the guy I was with last night” (not suspicious at all).
After serving around half of his sentence, Stephen was free. Had he served his full sentence, Jack Taylor would still be alive.
Still, surely the fourth body to turn within 400 yards of Port’s flat would raise the alarm. Especially given it was on the same grounds as the previous two. Then again, why would it? None of the others did.
The sole reason that Port was arrested in October 2015 was that Jack’s brave sisters - Donna and Jen - convinced an unwilling police force to release CCTV footage of Jack’s final walkthrough of Barking town centre, leading to Port’s identification.
My book is called Easy Kills because the police made it far easier than it should have been for a completely unresourceful idiot to murder.
They didn’t investigate even when he littered clues for them. Easy Kills tracks Port’s life, crimes, trial and the police failings that became apparent once he’d been jailed.
I hope it serves as a stark reminder of mistakes that the Met cannot afford to make again.
Easy Kills, published by Mirror Books, is on sale now. Get 10% off with the offer code R10 (RRP £8.99) . Order online at mirrorbooks.co.uk.
