The Met Police has made payments to families of three gay men who were killed by Stephen Port over investigatory failings.

The force said yesterday that it had settled civil claims with the relatives of Anthony Walgate and Gabriel Kovari and the partner of Gravesend chef Daniel Whitworth.

Serial killer and rapist Port was jailed for murdering the three men and a fourth victim, Jack Taylor, in 2015.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is reinvestigating the Met over its initial handling of their cases and said there is evidence that the original probe into the conduct of officers was "materially flawed".

It added that "new information" had come forward at the four men's inquests last year.

A spokesman for the Met said in a statement: "The Metropolitan Police Service has settled civil claims from the families of Anthony Walgate and Gabriel Kovari as well as the partner of Daniel Whitworth.

"We have previously apologised to the families for the police failings in this matter and understand the impact these have had and the distress caused. We apologise again now.

"Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families as always."

In January, a coroner’s report on the deaths of Port’s victims identified a "large number of very serious and very basic investigative failings" by police, including a "lack of professional curiosity" about the cases.

The report, by Sarah Munro QC, also expressed concern over how their deaths were classified as "unexplained" rather than suspicious.

Senior police officials said they would reform the national approach to investigating unexplained deaths so that they would be more clearly categorised and pursued.

An inquest jury found that officers in Barking missed repeated opportunities to catch Port after he plied his first victim, Mr Walgate, 23, with a fatal dose of the date-rape drug GHB and dumped his body.

Port struck three more times before he was caught, killing Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21 and final victim Jack Taylor in near-identical circumstances, with police failing to link him to the deaths despite detective work carried out by the victims’ family and friends that would lead to the culprit.

Last year, Mr Whitworth's partner Ricky Waumsley called on Met chief Cressida Dick to resign as he continued to believe police prejudice contributed to the death of his boyfriend, who was Port's youngest victim.

Former Dartford Grammar student Daniel was the third young man to be given a fatal dose of the date rape drug by Port.

Mr Waumsley said: "I believe it is a mixture of everything – so, a bit of laziness, incompetence, lack of training.But I absolutely stand by that they were being homophobic towards these four victims and making general assumptions that they are all young, gay men who take drugs."

Officers had denied accusations of prejudice and homophobia, blaming mistakes on being understaffed and lacking resources.