Policeman’s Ideas About Chemsex Illustrate Prejudice In Stephen Port Case

25 November 2016, 19:12 | Updated: 25 November 2016, 19:16

Iain Dale had to explain to a policeman why his assumptions about the gay community were homophobic - illustrating the problem with the Stephen Port investigation.

Stephen Port was today sentenced to life in prison for killing four men with date rape drugs after meeting them on a gay dating app.

The trial has revealed a shocking record of incompetence during the investigation which prevented Port being questioned sooner.

Iain spoke to former Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham about the case. He believed the shortcomings were due to budget cuts. Iain suggested homophobia and prejudice towards the gay community played a part.

“I don’t think it’s homophobia. There is an awareness that there is a significant problem with chemsex in the gay community.” Mr Kirkham said.

Iain had to explain why that attitude is a problem.

“That’s almost homophobic in itself, isn’t it. Just to say, ‘oh, well it happens in that community so we don’t need to really investigate it any further’… That is homophobia.”

The former officer disagreed with this, so Iain explained further.

“If police officers just think ‘well that’s the sort of thing that goes on in the gay community, therefore we assume it is that kind of death - it’s just a simple one, we don’t need to investigate it any further' they shouldn’t be making those sort of assumptions, should they?”