Serial Grindr killer tells friend that Eddie Redmayne or Kevin Bacon should play him

Serial killer Stephen Port, whose murder spree is the subject of a BBC drama starting tomorrow, told a friend from jail that he wanted Hollywood stars Kevin Bacon or Eddie Redmayne to play him in a film.

But the sexual predator, known as the Grindr Killer for drugging, raping and killing four men he met on the gay dating app, will be portrayed by Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office and better known for comic roles.

Port, 46, is serving life in the high-security Belmarsh prison for killing Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, and dumping their bodies near his home in Barking, East London. 

An Old Bailey jury was told in 2016 that the former chef invited the victims to his flat and gave them fatal doses of the party drug GHB and raped them as they lost consciousness.

Serial killer Stephen Port,  (pictured left) whose murder spree is the subject of a BBC drama starting tomorrow, told a friend from jail that he wanted Hollywood stars Kevin Bacon (right) or Eddie Redmayne to play him in a film

Before his trial, Port corresponded with a pen-pal in Manchester who has shown more than 100 pages of scruffily written letters to The Mail on Sunday. In them, Port expresses his wish for a Hollywood star to portray him in a film, singling out Bacon, Redmayne and Captain America star Chris Evans, claiming they resemble him.

He continues to deny responsibility for the murders but is open about his past as a gay escort. He says his dream job would be working for the Prince’s Trust on drug awareness projects.

‘Not sure who could play me in a film,’ he writes. ‘I have been told I look like a younger version of Kevin Bacon, so maybe him or Eddie Redmayne, and maybe the guy who played Captain America.’

Before his trial, Port corresponded with a pen-pal in Manchester who has shown more than 100 pages of scruffily written letters to The Mail on Sunday. In them, Port expresses his wish for a Hollywood star to portray him in a film, singling out Bacon, Redmayne (right) and Captain America star Chris Evans (left), claiming they resemble him

Instead, Port is played by Stephen Merchant (pictured) in the BBC’s three-part drama Four Lives 

The BBC’s three-part drama Four Lives will feature Merchant as Port, whose 15-month killing spree began in June 2014. The actor last week described as ‘utterly shocking’ the police mishandling of the Port investigation, in which they missed leads that might have prevented three of the deaths. ‘When I first read the script I wanted to believe some of the many police errors in the investigation must have been overstated for dramatic purposes, but they weren’t,’ he said.

After the death of Mr Walgate, Port was convicted of perverting the course of justice and jailed for eight months. Police treated the deaths as drug overdoses until the fourth body was found. An inquest last month found a litany of failures by the Met.

• Four Lives is on BBC1 at 9pm tomorrow.