A dog walker has told how she found the bodies of two of the victims of an alleged gay serial killer in the same churchyard just three weeks apart.

When she stumbled on the second body she said she thought: "Oh please, let that be somebody asleep - it cannot be the same thing again, in exactly the same place."

Barbara Denham discovered the bodies of Gabriel Kovari and Gravesend chef Daniel Whitworth in St Margaret's churchyard in Barking, east London in 2014.

Stephen Port, 41, is accused of killing both men with overdoses of the drug GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.

Ms Denham told the Old Bailey how she discovered the body of Mr Kovari in the churchyard at about 9am on August 28, 2014.

She said she saw his body slumped against a wall in the corner of St Margaret's churchyard.

Ms Denham said: "Because there was no movement, nothing, that is what made me decide to turn back, to try and get his attention.

"As you can see from the statement, whatever I did to try and get his attention, there was nothing, no movement whatsoever.

"I just touched him slightly on the ankle.

"He just felt cold to the touch."

She said he was wearing dark glasses which were slightly skewed, and she could see his eyes were open and glazed.

"Oh please, let that be somebody asleep" - Barbara Denham

She called the police, who arrived shortly afterwards.

Ms Denham told the court she walked her border collie through the churchyard daily, and occasionally twice a day.

She had walked round the same area at about 5pm the day before, but had not seen anything.

Ms Denham said: "There was no sign of anybody there at that time."

Just over three weeks later, on September 20, Ms Denham found the body of former Dartford Grammar schoolboy Mr Whitworth in the same spot as she had found Mr Kovari.

The jury has been told Port allegedly tried to frame Mr Whitworth for one of the deaths, by planting a sham suicide note confessing to killing Mr Kovari.

Ms Denham said her first thought was "oh please, let that be somebody asleep."

She added: "I have seen him there, and I thought it cannot be the same thing again, in exactly the same place."

Getting visibly upset on the witness stand, she said she was "so sad" to find out it was.

She said she could see he was clutching a note in a plastic folder.

Ms Denham continued: "I didn't go anywhere near, I didn't touch that."

She said she touched the body on the stomach.

Ms Denham said: "The same touch as I did on the other young chap, and again there was no obvious to response to anybody being alive. Very cold, very bluish tinge.

"Again, both bodies looked like they were asleep really, but obviously they weren't."

Police were called, who found on him a bottle of GBL - the liquid version of GHB - and the apparent suicide note in his left hand, the court heard earlier.

Port, of Barking, east London, denies four counts of murder, four alternative counts of manslaughter, ten counts of administering a substance with intent, seven counts of rape and four counts of assault by penetration.

The trial continues.