Stephen Port murders - Metropolitan Police Service

This is an investigation into the Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) initial response to the deaths of four men in Barking, East London, between June 2014 and September 2015.

Following a reinvestigation of the deaths by the MPS Stephen Port was charged with the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25. He was convicted of the murders, as well as a number of sexual and substance offences in November 2016.

The MPS made a voluntary referral to us in October 2015 after it identified concerns regarding the initial investigations into the men’s deaths. We completed our investigation and provided the MPS with our final report in August 2018.

We and the MPS agreed that officers did not have a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct. We also agreed that the performance of nine officers fell below the standard required and they will need to undergo measures to ensure performance is improved.

The main hearing of the four inquests will start in January 2021 and be heard before a jury.

We have identified a number of areas where police practice could be improved as a result of our investigation. We have had preliminary discussions with the MPS, the Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) and national police leads, and community representatives and advisory bodies to assist us with our thinking on this. We anticipate that the forthcoming inquests may also identify areas of potential learning and we will await the outcomes of the inquests before finalising any learning recommendations.

Our investigation report will be published at the conclusion of all proceedings. Once the inquest has concluded and with the benefit of any further evidence that may come to light during the inquest proceedings, we will issue a separate report focusing on organisational learning recommendations.