Alleged serial killer Stephen Port, who is accused of drugging and murdering four young men over 14 months, is due to make his first appearance at the Old Bailey this morning.

The 40-year-old is said to have met his victims on gay websites and invited them to his house where he poisoned them with the party drug GHB.

After suffering from overdoses, the men, in their 20s, were dumped in or near a churchyard.

Earlier this week, Port, of Cooke Street, Barking, was charged with four counts of murder and four counts of administering a poison with intent to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm.

The first victim, Anthony Walgate, 23, was found dead on Cooke Street on June 19 last year. He was a fashion and design student at Middlesex University who was originally from Hull but living in Barnet.

The second victim, Gabriel Kovari, 22, was found by a dog walker near St Margaret’s churchyard on August 28 last year. He was originally from Slovakia but lived in Lewisham, south London.

Just under a month later, on September 20 last year, the same dog walker discovered the body of Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, near the same churchyard.

Then on September 14 this year, Jack Taylor, 25, a forklift truck driver from Dagenham, was found dead near the Abbey ruins close to North Street.

The deaths were not initially linked, but after further investigation they were referred to the Metropolitan Police homicide and major crime command on October 14.

The Metropolitan Police has referred its handling of the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).