Barking & Dagenham murders: coroner publishes report

The coroner's inquest into the circumstances and the police investigation of the deaths of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor concluded in December 2021. The jury have returned a verdict of unlawful deaths, raising many issues regarding the professionalism of the Metropolitan Police. 

Her Honour Judge Sarah Munro QC has published her report on Action to Prevent Future Deaths (PFD report)

The report gives a summary of the facts of the murder investigation and lists six Matters of Concern addressed to the Metropolitan Police, National Police Chiefs' Council, College of Policing and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, covering

• categorisation of suspicious, non-suspicious and unexplained deaths
• interaction between specialist homicide investigators and local officers in determining ownership of investigation
• leadership in responsibility over investigations of unexplained deaths
• recording of investigation details on information systems
• handwriting verification
• need to verify identity of users of escort website

Although the disciplinary action is not in the remit of the coroner's inquest, the coroner points out to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) that the inquest has "exposed failings which were not identified by the IOPC in their investigation". 

She also commends the IOPC report to upcoming reviews of the Metropolitan Police as containing a "valuable analysis of how assumptions, stereotyping and unconscious bias may have detrimentally affected the decision-making in these investigations and contributed to the failure to identify Stephen Port as a perpetrator sooner".

The LGBT+ Advisory Group is committed to working with the Metropolitan Police to address these concerns.

 

Murder in Tower Hamlets Park Cemetery: New Arrest

Update 21 January 2022

A man has been arrested for the murder of Ranjith Kankanamalage in Tower Hamlets Park Cemetery. He will remain in custody.

We hope this marks the start of achieving some justice for Ranjith, although we appreciate this can never bring him back.

We have worked closely together with the borough commander, the homicide team, Tower Hamlets council and the local community over the course of this investigation. 

We will continue to work with the police to make sure that LGBT+ people are safe in Tower Hamlets and in all of London and. We will ensure that the ramifications of this horrific incident are fully explored.

https://news.met.police.uk/news/new-arrest-in-tower-hamlets-murder-investigation-436509

 

Barking & Dagenham murders: community meeting

The coroner's inquest into the circumstances and the police investigation of the deaths of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor concluded in December 2021. The jury have returned a verdict of unlawful deaths, raising many issues regarding the professionalism of the Metropolitan Police. The recent BBC docudrama, Four Lives, aired in January. 

It is clear that there are strong feelings about the failures of the police in this investigation. We are organising a community meeting on 24th January.

Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball, Commander Jonathan Savell and the commander for the East Area, Paul Trevers, will be attending to listen to your concerns and to answer questions.

This event is organised by the LGBT+ Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police. 

Following current Covid19 safety advice, this will be an online Zoom event.

Date: Monday 24th January, 6pm-7.30pm

This is online event on Zoom.

Please register on Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-london-inquest-community-meeting-tickets-244595410457

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We are going to launch a recruitment campaign in 2022.