An East Ham dealer believed to have unwittingly supplied serial killer Stephen Port with the drugs he used to kill one of his victims has been jailed.

Peter Hirons, 48, sold Class A drugs including crystal meth and MDMA, the Class B former legal high mephedrone - also known as meow meow - and the so-called party drug GHB from his one-bed council flat in Park Avenue.

Prosecutors in Port’s trial said Hirons, who was known as a “supplier of ... legal highs within the gay community”, sold drugs to the killer hours before he murdered Dagenham forklift truck driver Jack Taylor, 25, with a lethal injection.

Port, 41, of Cooke Street, Barking, was today found guilty of Mr Taylor’s murder, as well as that of three other men, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Anthony Walgate.

Hirons’ drug dealing came to light after Port named him as his supplier following his arrest in October last year.

When police raided the dealer’s home, they found drugs in a jute Tesco bag in his bedroom, along with £6,060 in cash.

Officers analysed Hirons’ account on the popular gay hook-up app Grindr after his arrest that same month, where they found he had supplied quadruple-killer Port with “Liquid G, poppers, T and M” in the six weeks between August and October 2015. T and M are street slang for crystal meth and MDMA, while Liquid G, or Liquid Gold, is a reference to GHB.

Hirons admitted six drugs charges and one of possession of criminal property in October and was jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court on November 8.

Jailing him, Judge William Kennedy said: “Many times have I sat here and said those who deal in Class A drugs deal in death.

“It’s a simple as that. Throughout the country decent people see their lives turned upside down by those who use drugs and those who will do anything to get their hands on them.

“The fact that you sold them and used them for a specific purpose changes things not a jot.”

Prosecutor David Ryan told Snaresbrook Crown Court: “His offending came to light when he was named in a police interview by someone called Stephen Port. Hirons has appeared as a witness for the crown in that case.”

Hirons was sentenced to 30 months after he admitted three counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. He was also given a 12-month sentence for two counts of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply, six months for possession of a Class C drug with intent to supply and a 12-month sentence for possession of criminal property. All were to be served concurrently.

He pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of a Class A drug - ketamine - which will lie on file.