A dog walker has recalled the grim moments she discovered two of serial killer Stephen Port’s victims at the same churchyard just weeks apart.

Port was sentenced to a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey on 25 November 2016, over the murder of at least four men and several rapes.

During a 16-month period, the 46-year-old gave the four young gay men lethal doses of the drug GHB, before he then dumped their bodies near his flat in Barking, east London.

An inquest has been taking place at Barking Town Hall this week to examine whether any of the deaths could have been avoided if police had acted differently.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Barbara Denham described the shocking moments she discovered two of Port’s victims just three weeks apart as she was walking her dogs.

Gabriel Kovari, 22, and Daniel Whitworth, 21, had been left in a quiet corner of St Margaret’s Churchyard, Barking, leaning against a stone wall beneath an old maple tree.

Mrs Denham said she found the experience “overwhelming” and recalled alerting the police both times.

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On 28 August 2014, she was walking through the churchyard with her border collie and two chocolate Labradors, when she saw Mr Kovari.

She told jurors: “I just saw a young man lying up against a wall and his glasses – he had dark glasses on – they were not straight in front of his face.

“He looked like he was asleep. Someone who had a rough night – drugs or drink – and was sleeping it off.”

“I never got a good look at his face. I never removed his glasses. The glasses were skew-whiff,” she continued.

“I thought, I cannot leave him there, he needs help of some kind. There is a possibility he is dead.”

Just a few weeks later, on 20 September 2014, Mrs Denham then found the body of Mr Whitworth, which she said struck her as “very peculiar” at the time.

She said: “This time I phoned up and said, ‘I am the same woman that found the other body a few weeks ago’.

“And I said, ‘I have found another young boy’.

“They all came flying over there. There was lots that day.”

PC Thomas Faulkner, who attended the scene when Mr Kovari was found, added during the inquest: “At the time I cannot say whether or not we were treating it as suspicious or unexplained.

“All I can say is there was an element we were treating the scene in a suspicious manner.”

The discovery of the two men came just a few months after the death of Anthony Walgate, 23, who was left outside Port’s flat in Cooke Street, Barking, on 19 June 2014.

Port’s fourth victim was aspiring police officer Jack Taylor, 25, who was found dead on the other side of the graveyard wall by a parks worker on 14 September 2015.

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