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Serial killer Stephen Port had a “voracious appetite” for meeting very young men and was obsessed with kid's toys, a former friend has told a court.
Neighbour Ryan Edwards said Grindr killer Port spent such a considerable period of time with “vulnerable” men that he considered the softly-spoken chef might have “paedophile tendencies”.
Concerns were also flagged by the former friend over Port’s drug use, but he told an inquest he was reassured by the predator that his interest in young males was legal and drugs were for his own personal use.
Port, now 46, was jailed for life in 2016 after being convicted of murder by plying four young, gay men with fatal doses of the drug GHB, as well as a number of rapes.
He would go on to kill 21-year-old Daniel Whitworth from Gravesend, as well as Gabriel Kovari, 22, and Jack Taylor, 25, during a 16-month period between June 2014 and September 2015.
Inquests into the four deaths in Barking, east London, which are being held yards from where Port lived and dumped his victims’ bodies, are examining whether police actions could have stopped the 6ft 5in serial killer earlier.
Mr Edwards told inquest jurors he struck up a friendship with Port due to them being neighbours and members of Barking’s LGBT community.
When quizzed on their friendship he said it was strictly platonic, and that Port would frequently invite him over to meet his new partner, something which occasionally gave Mr Edwards cause for concern.
He told the jury: “My slight concern with Stephen Port was sometimes the guys he would introduce me to were very young – 16, 17 sometimes, very close to the age of consent.
“Often there were difficult circumstances, broken homes, needing somewhere to stay, vulnerable.
“I was wondering if he was bordering on paedophile tendencies, but I didn’t have any evidence.”
Mr Edwards added: “He had a voracious appetite for meeting guys and I was always astonished at how he was able to meet so many, he wasn’t exactly ‘Mr Personality’.
“That was slightly strange.”
Mr Edwards also described being invited to Port’s flat one evening to meet his “new guy”, only to find the male seemingly unable to speak and drugs paraphernalia on the coffee table.
He said: “I did ask Stephen about it and he reassured me it was for his own personal use and reassured me not to worry.
"Rightly or wrongly, drugs are very prevalent on the gay scene, I don’t see it as my place to police that.”
The killer's neighbour also said he would have reported concerns about Port’s young companions and about drug use if there was any evidence of criminal activity, as he had done with a previous friend.
He also described how Port loved playing with Transformers toys, specifically the ones designed for children.
“(It was) strange for a grown man,” Mr Edwards added, “but I took Stephen for his quirks, and there were many.”
The inquest also heard Port tried to cover his murderous tracks by telling Mr Edwards his second victim died in mysterious circumstances abroad.
Mr Edwards said Port also urged him not to speak to others about the death of 22-year-old Gabriel Kovari.
Mr Edwards first met Mr Kovari after Port – who was said to have “a revolving door of boys coming and going” – invited him round to meet his “new Slovakian twink flat mate” on August 24 2014.
The following day, Mr Kovari said to Mr Edwards that Port “is not the person you think he is, he’s not a nice man”, prompting Mr Edwards to offer him shelter at his home nearby.
But Mr Kovari did not reply to Mr Edwards’ follow-up messages. He was found dead on August 28 in a secluded corner of St Margaret’s Churchyard, near Port’s flat, unbeknownst to Mr Edwards.
Two days earlier, Mr Edwards was contacted by Port saying Mr Kovari had moved out.
Port followed this by asking Mr Edwards if he had seen Mr Kovari around, floating the idea that he moved to Spain, before texting him on September 11 to say the young man had in fact died on a flight abroad.
In one text, shown to inquest jurors, Port wrote: “Hey neighbour, have just heard sum (sic) sad news from one of Gabriel’s friends that Gab did return to Spain to be with his bf (boyfriend) and he died on arrival from an infection.
“His (sic) being buried in slovkya (sic). Please don’t put on FB (Facebook) or mention to anyone else as his family are in bits.”
Mr Edwards, 42, said he found Port’s story to be suspicious, but did not have any reason to disbelieve him.
In fact, Mr Edwards was unaware that Mr Kovari had died on August 28 in Barking until more than a year later because he was away that month.
Inquests into the four deaths, which are being held yards from where Port lived and dumped his victims’ bodies, are examining whether police actions could have stopped the 6ft 5in serial killer earlier.
The inquests, which is due to go on for up to 10 weeks, continues.
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