Stephen Port: Alleged Barking serial killer lied to police because ‘the truth sounded like a lie’

Stephen Port is accused of murder. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

The 41-year-old chef is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of giving the men fatal doses of date rape drug GHB to have sex with them while they were unconscious.

Mr Port denies murdering fashion student Anthony Walgate, 23, Slovakian Gabriel Kovari, 22, fellow chef Daniel Whitworth, 21, and forklift truck driver Jack Taylor, 25.

All four alleged victims were found within 400 metres of Mr Port’s flat in Cooke Street, Barking, over a period of 15 months.

Giving evidence today, Mr Port accepted that he lied to police investigating the series of deaths following Mr Walgate’s.

At the time, he denied knowing Mr Kovari or Mr Taylor, and said Mr Whitworth was someone he might have heard of.

When asked why he lied, Mr Port said: “The truth sounded like a lie, so I lied to make it sound like the truth.”

Cross examining, Jonathan Rees QC accused the defendant of “playing God” in his flat.

Mr Port accepted it would be hard for people to believe his account, which Mr Rees said sounded like a lie and was “absurd in places”.

After being confronted by the lies he told police during the investigation, Mr Port also agreed with the prosecutor’s assertion he could be a “determined liar to save your own skin”.

Mr Rees said: “The essence of it is, you like playing God and manipulating and controlling young men.

“The key to this case is you like penetrating young men who are unconscious. That is at the heart of this case isn’t it?”

Mr Port denies 29 offences against 12 men – including four murders, seven rapes, four sex assaults and administering a substance with intent.

The trial continues.