A drug dealer who supplied serial killer Stephen Port has been jailed for at least 31 years for the murder of a businessman.
Gerald Matovu, 26, killed Eric Michels, 54, with a fatal overdose of GHB – the same drug his former customer used to kill four men.
He was one of 12 men targeted by Matovu and lover, Brandon Dunbar, 24, over a 19 – month period, The Old Bailey heard.
Sentencing, judge Anne Molyneux QC said Matovu was an “experienced poisoner”.
Matovuhad previously admittedselling GHB to Port, but had denied killing Mr Michel, who was found dead in bed by his 14 – year-old daughter.
The pair met through the Grindr app and took a cab back to Mr Michels’ flat on 18 August 2018.
Passing sentence , the judge said Matovu, who now identifies as female, was a “highly dangerous predator”.
He was jailed for a total of 39 offences relating to 14 victims.
Mr Michel’s ex-wife, Diane Michels, said the two men had a “callous disregard “for his life.
“We have to live with the knowledge the last person Eric saw was the person who took his life”, she said.
The court heard Matovu and his partner Dunbar targeted victims through gay dating apps, carrying out a string of thefts and frauds.
They drugged their victims, calculating they would be “too embarrassed to report what happened”, said the judge.
Co-defendant Dunbar, of Forest Gate, east London, was jailed for 18 years and told he must serve at least two-thirds in prison.
The judge also imposed an extended sentence of five years, to be served on license.
Jurors were not told about Matovu supplying drugs to Port, who was given awhole-life termfor the murders of four young men he poisoned with GHB.
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