Cressida Dick: ‘LGBT community has lost faith’ - Stephen Port victim’s sister welcomes Met chief quitting

The sister of Grindr killer Stephen Port’s final victim has welcomed Cressida Dick’s exit as chief of the Met Police, saying the “LGBT community has lost faith in the force”.

Jack Taylor, 25, was the fourth young, gay man to be murdered by Port in Barking, east London, in a string of sex attacks which cops failed to link or to properly investigate.

An inquest jury found in December that police failings “probably contributed” to three of the four murders, of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 21, Daniel Whitworth, 22, and Jack.

Speaking after the shock exit of Dame Cressida, who has led the capital’s police since 2017, Jack’s sister Jenny Taylor, welcomed the commissioner’s resignation.

Jenny, who has launched a petition alongside her sister Donna, calling for justice for the four murdered young men, and is calling for a public inquiry, told LondonWorld: “Since me and Donna started this petition for our Jack and the boys to get them justice, we’ve had so many people come to us to tell us how badly they have been treated because of their sexuality.

“Certain police officers shouldn’t be police officers because of their disgusting views which are then putting people at risk and in danger.”

“It is also making people not want to go to the police because they don’t feel like they will get taken seriously or treated decently enough.

“The LGBT+ community has lost faith in the police force and so have many other people.

“The only way they will build that back up is by showing they care, not just by waving a flag outside a station or wearing a badge.”

She added: “It’s by making an example of the individual officers and showing how seriously they are taking this and also proving that they do want equality and for everyone to be treated the same with the same respect and care.

“Which at the moment it’s very clear isn’t happening - because if that was the case we would still have our Jack here.

“Six years later and we are now fighting for a public inquiry.”

Jenny, who attended the inquests alongside her parents and sister - who gave evidence, as well as Jack’s father Colin - said the family initially felt listened to by Dame Cressida.

“As a family, we didn’t want her to resign at first because she wasn’t the commissioner at the time the boys, including our Jack, were murdered,” she said.

“After her meeting with our family, she gave us the impression that she was going to stand up and be counted.”

But Jenny said the family were upset by the commissioner’s claim there was no evidence of homophobia in the case - which they do not agree with.

The coroner told the jury they were not to rule on whether the force was homophobic in their conclusions.

Jenny said Dame Cressida told City Hall the judge “didn’t include homophobia in the questioning to the jury because there was no evidence of it, which wasn’t true”.

She added: “If she actually read the death report and read the transcripts of the inquest she would have known that wasn’t the case at all.

“The corner was leaving that open for the IOPC to investigate if they chose to do so.

“She brushed our questions off and it felt like she was reading off of a script.

“We are now happy she’s resigned and hopefully they will now also get rid of the bad fruits.

“There are also plenty of good ones too but the bad ones seem to be everywhere at the moment.”

Speaking after the jury’s findings were delivered, Met assistant commissioner Helen Ball, said the jury “found the deaths of three of the young men – Gabriel, Daniel and Jack – could probably have been prevented had the initial police response and investigation been better”.

She said: "It is a devastating finding. Our thoughts are with everybody who loved these young men. We are so sorry for their loss.

"And we’re also deeply sorry that there were failings in the police response to the murders. I give my own and the Met’s heartfelt apologies.

"We completely accept that people’s trust in the Met has been damaged by recent events.

“The deaths of these four young men is part of that damage and we know it has a particular impact on communities local to Barking and LGBT+ communities across London.”

In a statement on her resignation, Dame Cressida said: “Undertaking this role as a servant of the people of London and the UK has been the greatest honour and privilege of my life.

“Throughout my career I have sought to protect the people of this wonderful thriving and diverse city.”

She added: “The murder of Sarah Everard and many other awful cases recently have, I know, damaged confidence in this fantastic police service.

“I know that the Met has turned its full attention to rebuilding public trust and confidence.

“Thank you to everyone for the extraordinary effort you make each and every day.”