Serial killer Stephen Port, 41, is due to be sentenced today for the vicious murders of four men that he found on online via gay dating apps and websites. He was found guilty of their murders earlier this week with a majority verdict of the jury.
Port was found guilty of the murders of Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21 and Jack Taylor, 25. Their bodies were dumped in or near a graveyard in Barking. The graveyard was 500 meters away from his flat in east London.
The 41-year-old was also found guilty of 10 offences of administering a substance with intent, four rapes and four sexual assaults.
The murders took place between June 2014 and September 2015.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who are currently investigating the Metropolitan Police for their response to the deaths of four men in London are looking for witnesses who may have had contact with Stephen Port to come forward.
Homes Under The Hammer star Martin Roberts has been targetted by homophobes on Twitter since his appearance on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
ITV
Since his entry into the Jungle, Martin Roberts has both delighted and annoyed fans of the show with his outrageous behaviour, however, some viewers have taken to social media to homophobically abuse the presenter, despite the fact that he’s not gay.
The flamboyant star, who normally presents the BBC’s Home Under The Hammer, has been the victim of anti-gay abuse and slurs and has even had one death threat with his perceived sexuality being a feature in the Tweets written.
One user started a poll, which asked, “Who’s the biggest faggot in the @ImACelebrity jungle” and listed only Martin’s name
Martin Roberts is actually married to Kirsty Roberts. They got married in 2010 and together they have two children. They now live in Bath, Somerset with their two children. Before he went into the jungle he said that he was determined to make his two children proud of him.
However, it does seem as though Martin does have a man crush.
Before entering the jungle, Martin said that he’d most like to share his jungle experience with Eddie Izzard who he said would be a “riot” to hang around with and be the perfect campmate.
Statistics provided by NoHomophobes.com show that online homophobia spiked the day after the US election on the 8th and 9th of November.
CREDIT: NoHomophobes.com
Trans’ hotline report that their call volume tripled during the period.
Alleged abusers cite Donald Trump’s victory during their reported attacks.
Homophobia on Twitter reaches levels not seen since January 2014.
Bucking the downward trend of homophobia on Twitter, the Twitter homophobia monitor NoHomophobes.com recorded a staggering increase of homophobic tweets on the 8th and the 9th of November.
The monitoring service checks every tweet sent on the social network for one of four terms “faggot”, “no homo”, “so gay” and “dyke”. The website was created by the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, at the University of Alberta,to “show the prevalence of casual homophobia in our society.”
Since January 2014 the use of those terms has actually decreased to around 45,000 uses of the word “faggot” per week, however, on the 10th November, the term “faggot” was Tweeted over 32,000 times in just one day.
Doctor Kris Wells, pulled the data for the use of the word “Faggot” for us and it’s pretty grim reading,
• March 5 – 6,509 (times the word was used)
• April 3 – 11,406
• July 24 – 6,963
• August 14 – 7,209
• Sept 11 – 7,089
• Oct. 16 – 5,598
• Oct. 21 – 3,344
• Nov. 4 – 5,869
• Nov. 7 – 6,407
• Nov. 9 – 10,225
Commenting on the finds Dr Wells commented, “So we definitely see the reality of a Trump presidency kick in on Nov 10th, two days after the election”.
Donald Trump Cited
In fact, the spike of homophobic language on the two days around the US Election returned to levels found in April 2014. The Guardian noted that there was a spike in reports of hate crimes in the aftermath of the result. Many victims claimed that their alleged abusers cited Donald Trump’s victory as their reasoning for their attacks.
The national trans’ hotline, The Trans Lifeline, told the Guardian that call volume had tripled on the Tuesday into Wednesday morning.
There were numerous reports of death threats, physical assaults and anti-gay and anti-trans graffiti sprayed onto cars. One car had a note left on it which noted,
“Can’t wait until your ‘marriage’ is overturned by a real president,” read a sign left on a car in North Carolina. Gay families = burn in hell. Trump 2016.”
Another gay man was assaulted in an alley in Santa Monica who was told, “We got a new President you f***ing f****ts”.
“Here’s the thing, and I learned it from Ru, you can’t reason with stupidity. Stupidity is just stupidity. You can be as negative as you want.
“Why would I waste my great, beautiful, zen, happy energy trying to convince you? Absolutely not.”
Michelle who has been blasted on social media for her sometimes harsh constructive criticism of contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race said that she pays the haters no mind and she doesn’t want to validate the hate by giving it any time.
She continued,
“There’s absolutely no need in trying to validate hate.
“Me giving my energy to that hateful energy is completely giving away my power. I need my power for good, not evil.”
A gun attack has left one dead and three wounded in a gay club in Albany New York
CREDIT: Google Maps
Police responded to an emergency call out when shots were fired at a gay bar in Albany, New York at 2:00AM Thursday morning. Police report that four people were shot inside the Rocks On Central Avenue night-club.
The venue’s management describes it as “proudly gay owned and operated”.
Among the injured were two men and two women. Of the men, one died from his injuries according to reports.
Three others had injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.
WTEN reports that at least one person was taken into custody.
Police believe that the venue was not targetted because of the patron’s sexuality but that the shootings happened for no specific reason.
“The one thing we want to let members of our community members know, especially the members of our LGBT community know that this is not a random act, this bar was not targeted for any specific reason.”
No motive has been made clear at this time and the suspect’s details have not been released.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who are currently investigating the Metropolitan Police for their response to the deaths of four men in London are looking for witnesses who may have had contact with Stephen Port to come forward.
The bodies of all four men were found in the Barking area, between June 2014 and September 2015.
The Metropolitan Police Service referred itself to the IPCC in October 2015 after it identified concerns regarding the initial investigations into the men’s deaths.
Stephen Port was a member of a number of services and had a variety of handles on services, these were: shyfitguy on Flirt, Daddy4son2012 on Daddyhunt, topdomhunk on Hornet, knockknock2014 on PlanetRomeo, untilwemeet on Manhunt and StephenPort on Couchsurfing.
On gaydar his profile name was, skygay502 and on Grindr he was known as Top Fun Joe.
Peter Tatchell, gay rights activist, said,
“Appallingly, even after the third murder the police were still maintaining that the deaths were ‘unusual’ but ‘not suspicious.’ They did not issue a public alert to the gay community that a serial killer could be on the loose. This failing ignored Met Police best practice advice which was agreed two decades ago, after previous murders of gay men.
“The police appeal for public information came in October 2015 – a year too late. Four young men were already dead. This appeal should have been made in August 2014 after the first two killings. If the police had done this, further deaths may have been prevented. Two of these men might still be alive.
IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts said,
“Today our thoughts are with everybody affected by the tragic deaths of Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack at the hands of Stephen Port.
“It is important we establish whether the police response to the deaths of all four men was thorough and appropriate in the circumstances, including whether discrimination played any part in actions and decisions. As his trial established, Port was known to the police in connection to the death Mr Walgate. We now know that tragically, three more young men went on to lose their lives.
“I have met with LGBT community members in Barking and Dagenham to explain the IPCC’s role, and would like to provide the assurance that our investigators are continuing to work hard to scrutinise the police response to the tragic deaths of these four young men.
“We would like to hear from anybody who provided information to the police about Port, or any of his victims, between 19 June 2014 and 15 October 2015.”
Anyone with information should contact the IPCC on 0800 151 0021 or email barking&dagenham@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk.
He has been found guilty of the murders of Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21 and Jack Taylor, 25. Their bodies were dumped in or near a graveyard in Barking. The graveyard was 500 meters away from his flat in east London.
Port has denied 29 charges in total.
Initially, he was charged with four counts of murder in relation to the deaths of four men between June 2014 and September 2015.
The charges relate to the deaths of:
– Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, from Barnet, who was pronounced dead on Cooke Street, Barking on 19 June 2014.
– Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, whose body was found near the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, North Street, Barking on 28 August 2014.
– Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, whose body was found near the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, North Street, Barking on 20 September 2014.
– Jack Taylor, 25, from Dagenham, whose body was found near the Abbey Ruins close to North Street, Barking on Monday, 14 September.
The Met Police is currently under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission following concerns on how it handled the initial investigation into Mr Whitworth’s death.
Human rights advocate Peter Tatchell monitored the police handling of the serial killings of young gay men in east London from October 2014 and liaised with a friend of one of the victims, Gabriel Kovari.
Commenting on jury’s guilty verdict and the way police responded to the multiple murders by Stephen Port, he said,
“While timely and commendable, this verdict is no compensation for the loss of four young gay men who had their lives, hopes and dreams cut short.
“Appallingly, even after the third murder the police were still maintaining that the deaths were ‘unusual’ but ‘not suspicious.’ They did not issue a public alert to the gay community that a serial killer could be on the loose. This failing ignored Met Police best practice advice which was agreed two decades ago, after previous murders of gay men.
“The police appeal for public information came in October 2015 – a year too late. Four young men were already dead. This appeal should have been made in August 2014 after the first two killings. If the police had done this, further deaths may have been prevented. Two of these men might still be alive.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as it develops.
He has been found guilty of the murders of Gabreil Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21 and Jack Taylor, 25. Their bodies were dumped in or near a graveyard in Barking. The graveyard was 500 meters away from his flat in east London.
Port has denied 29 charges in total.
Initially, he was charged with four counts of murder in relation to the deaths of four men between June 2014 and September 2015.
The charges relate to the deaths of:
– Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, from Barnet, who was pronounced dead on Cooke Street, Barking on 19 June 2014.
– Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, whose body was found near the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, North Street, Barking on 28 August 2014.
– Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, whose body was found near the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, North Street, Barking on 20 September 2014.
– Jack Taylor, 25, from Dagenham, whose body was found near the Abbey Ruins close to North Street, Barking on Monday, 14 September.
Jurors have yet to decide on a verdict on the murder of Anthony Patrick Walgate, a 23-year-old who is alleged to be the first murder victim.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as it develops.
Sex scenes described as “non-conventional” could be banned in the UK under a little-discussed clause in the Digital Economy Bill.
The UK government could censor porn or filmed sex scenes it deems “non-conventional” under a proposal which is part of the digital economy bill. The proposal would enforce a strict age verification and force Internet Service Providers to block access to footage which couldn’t be classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for sale to the public under the R18 certificate.
The BBFC’s classification system has been described as controversial and lacking in scope for modern viewing habits.
A spokeswoman for MindGeek, one of the world’s biggest pornographic website operators, said,
“Many of the sexual activities prohibited from R18 [the BBFC’s most explicit certification] are normalised and accepted aspects of healthy sexuality, and are proudly celebrated by the feminist, queer and ethical porn movements internationally,” she said.
“Non-conventional” scenes could include fisting as it falls under the “four finger rule” as well as female ejaculation.
A teenager has been found guilty of the vicious murder of a man he met on the gay dating app, Grindr.
Ben Bamford, 18, has been found guilty of the murder of a 52-year-old man he met via the gay dating app, Grindr. Mr Bamford who was 17-years-old at the time of the murder unleashed a vicious attack on Paul Jefferies, reportedly a tax advisor to George Osbourne, who lived in East Sussex.
The attack happened on the 23 February 2016.
A sustained and bloody attack left Mr Jefferies with over 40 stab wounds. The court heard that Bamford also slashed the tax advisor’s throat, leaving him to die in a pool of his own blood. His body was discovered two days later when concerned work colleagues noted that he had not been into work.
Mr Bamford left the body with a tea towel covering his head.
CREDIT: Sussex Police
Mr Bamford denied murder and claimed that he was acting out in self-defense after alleging that his victim had tried to rape him. The court heard Bamford describing that Mr Jefferies had “got on top” of him and continued to have sex after Bamford had told him to stop.
Mr Bamford had sought out Mr Jefferies after accruing £400 in debt. A statement from Sussex Police remarked that they believed that he “went to see Mr Jefferies with the intention of exploiting him for money to pay off his drugs debt.”
Detective Chief Inspector Tanya Jones, who led the investigation for Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said,
“This was a horrific attack by a teenage boy who preyed on his victim with the aim of exploiting him for money.
“The level of violence he inflicted on Paul Jefferies was extreme and then he fled the scene in his victim’s car. He showed no remorse smirking for a selfie photo just hours later.
“However the jury did not believe his story. Although this can never undo what he has done, I hope it will bring some justice for Paul’s family, friends and colleagues.”
Right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos was supposed to host a lecture at his former school, The Langton Grammar School for Boys, however, it has been cancelled due to “safety concerns” after the school was contacted by the Department for Education’s (DfE) “counter-extremism unit”.
CREDIT: LeWeb14 / Flickr
Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-proclaimed, super villain of the internet has had a scheduled talk cancelled after the school was contacted by the Department for Education’s (DfE) “counter-extremism unit” after concerns about safety were called into question.
Around 220 students had signed up to hear Milo speak. A spokesperson for the school noted that, “the staff and students of the school were overwhelmingly in favour”, of Milo’s visit.
Concerns for the security of the school site and the school’s community were raised after activists planned to demonstrate during the event.
The school’s spokesperson said,
“This decision was taken following contact from the DfE counter-extremism unit, the threat of demonstrations at the school by organised groups and members of the public and our overall concerns for the security of the school site and the safety of our community.
“We note that, within 24 hours of advertising the event, 220 Langton sixth formers had, with parental consent, signed up for the event and that objection to our hosting Yiannopoulos came almost entirely from people with no direct connection to The Langton. The staff and students of the school were overwhelmingly in favour.
“Whilst disappointed that both the pastoral care and intellectual preparation we offer to our students has been called into question, we at The Langton remain committed to the principle of free speech and open debate and will resist, where possible, all forms of censorship.”
Writing on his Facebook page on Monday, Milo said,
“My old high school has been bullied into canceling my talk on Tuesday by the “counter-extremism” unit at the U.K. Department of Education.
Who even knew the DoE had a counter-extremism unit? And that it wasn’t set up to combat terrorism but rather to punish gays with the wrong opinions? Perhaps if I’d called the speech “MUSLIMS ARE AWESOME!” they’d have left us alone. Disgusted.
