Petition to remove ‘homophobic’ Met Police officers in Stephen Port case nears 50,000 signatures

A petition to see the “homophobic” officers involved in the Stephen Port case has neared its next target of 50,000 signatures.

Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25 were killed by Port aka ‘The Grindr killer’ between June 2014 and September 2015. Port was eventually given an all-life sentence in 2016.

The petition, set up by Josie Minihane after the BBC series Four Lives which was based on the true events of the case, was (as of Friday 13 October) up to 45,849 signatures.

“We need justice for Jack, Anthony, Gabriel, and Daniel”

Highlighting the verdict of a 2021 inquest into the Metropolitan Police’s initial investigations into the four boys’ deaths which concluded that Met police failings “probably” contributed to the deaths of Kovari, Whitworth, and Taylor, the petition says “not one of the officers have been disciplined and more disturbingly seven have been promoted.”

It continued: “We need justice for Jack, Anthony, Gabriel and Daniel. The families need justice. The officers need to be held accountable. They should not be in the positions of authority they currently hold.”

It also called for “a full public inquiry” into the Met’s failings alleging “widespread homophobic and gender phobic discrimination in the police forces.”

“We won’t stop until we get the right result and that means people being held accountable”

Speaking at the 2023 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar on Wednesday (11 October) Donna and Jenny Taylor, the sisters of Jack Taylor, vowed to keep fighting for justice.

“This should never happen again to other families, people need to be treated as equals,” they said as they collected the Inspiration Award.

It was the tireless work of the two sisters, who connected the dots between the four boys’ deaths and gave that to the police, that led to Stephen Port being arrested and eventually sentenced.

Speaking to Attitude before the Awards, the sisters were determined to hold officers accountable. The families of Port’s victims have always maintained that homophobia was an issue in the investigations.

“We won’t stop until we get the right result and that means people being held accountable,” said Jenny. She said that means serving officers — “the ones that helped Jack lose his life” — losing their jobs.

She continued: “It’s disgusting how they’re still in that job role. At the end of the day, Stephen Port killed Jack and the other boys, but the police have blood on their hands. They’ve played a part in people’s deaths because they could have stopped that.”

“There were failings in our police response” – Met Commander Jon Savell on the Stephen Port case

In a previous statement to Attitude, the Met’s Commander Jon Savell apologised to the family and recognised “there were failings in our police response.”

The statement also says the Met is “committed to improving our investigations, our relationships and the trust people have in us.”

In April, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) concluded that a case like the Stephen Port case “could happen again” and that murders are regularly not being investigated properly.

Before that, a high-profile review by Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock DBE CB in March this year found that the Metropolitan Police is riddled with “institutional racism, sexism, and homophobia.”