An alleged serial killer who is accused of murdering four young men he met on gay dating app Grindr has been charged with attacking eight other victims.

Stephen Port, 41, of Barking, east London, is accused of killing four men with fatal doses of the party drug GHB, known as liquid ecstasy, after inviting them back to his flat.

The Met Police referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission when Port was arrested last October after the deaths were finally linked.

Stephen Port, 41, of Barking, east London, is said to have killed his four victims with fatal doses of the party drug GHB, known as liquid ecstasy, after inviting them back to his flat

Port was charged with four counts of murder as well as four counts of administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to engage in sexual activity against the four alleged murder victims.

He was also charged with four alternative counts of manslaughter.

It can now be revealed Port has since been charged with seven counts of rape, six counts of administering a substance with intent to overpower to allow sexual activity, and four counts of assault by penetration.

The charges relate to another eight alleged victims said to have been attacked at Port's flat between August 2011 and October 2015 after meeting him on the gay dating site.

Mr Justice Openshaw today joined the two indictments and said Port faces a ten-week trial commencing on 4 October

The alleged killer appeared via video link today from HMP Belmarsh to enter not guilty pleas to all 29 counts against him.

He wore a white shirt and dark trousers, and sat with his hands clasped between his knees.

Port had to be asked to repeat his pleas on several occasions after mumbling his response to the charges.

Mr Justice Openshaw today joined the two indictments and said Port faces a ten-week trial commencing on 4 October.

The first alleged offence dates back to between August 2011 and January the following year.

Aspiring fashion designer Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, from Barnet, was in the second year of an art, design and fashion course at the University of Middlesex.

The body of Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, was found near the churchyard of St Margaret's two months later.

Jack Taylor, 25, was found close by, near the Abbey Ruins, by North Street on 14 September last year.

Mr Taylor, from Dagenham, was a night-duty fork-lift truck driver at a warehouse and was last seen by friends on a night out in Barking on the previous night.

The final man to die, 25-year-old Daniel Whitworth, an aspiring chef from Gravesend, Kent, who worked in London Docklands was found in the same churchyard as Mr Kovari on 20 September 2015.

Port denies four counts of murder, four counts of administering a poison with intent to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm, seven counts of rape, six counts of administering a substance with intent to overpower to allow sexual activity, and four counts of sexual assault by penetration.