Almost two decades have passed since father-of-two Stuart Lubbock was found just before dawn, floating face down in the pool at TV celebrity Michael Barrymore’s luxury home in Roydon, Essex.
The 31-year-old had been one of nine people attending a party at the entertainer’s address on March 31, 2001. Others at the party included Justin Merritt, a former dustman, and Barrymore’s then partner Jonathan Kenney.
Stuart had been nightclubbing in Harlow, Essex, with his brother Kevin when he met Barrymore and his entourage and was invited back to an after-party at the star’s £2m mansion. The brothers had become separated and Kevin assumed Stuart had left with a girl.
When an autopsy found Stuart had suffered “horrific” internal anal injuries, the red tops shrieked that the butcher had died at a drug-fuelled gay orgy. (Barrymore had come out six years earlier, splitting from Cheryl, his wife of 19 years.)
Medical experts told the 2002 inquest in Epping that the severity of Stuart’s injuries suggested he may have been the victim of a serious sexual assault.
Alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy were found in his system, but the events that led up to his death have never been explained and an open verdict was returned.
This week a documentary examining Lubbock’s death is due to be aired on Channel 4. His father, Terry Lubbock, who now lives in a care home in Harlow, has publicly thanked the entertainer for keeping the case in the public eye, claiming Barrymore has helped his fight to get justice for his son.
“I’m not well now and I’ve seen the best years of my life,” Terry said.
“All I live for is to see Stuart get justice – and I’m determined that I will live to see Stuart get justice.
“Michael Barrymore is a very, very clever man and he wants to be in the limelight and he wants to be back on television. And he has helped me enormously. He’s kept this in the news and I thank him for it.
“I cannot imagine Stuart would still be getting all this attention without Michael Barrymore.
“I think it’s time he comes clean. It’s time now, Michael. I think you know more about this than you have said and the focus will be on you.
“It’s time now for you to either clear your name or put your hands up to what happened because you must know.”
The programme will piece together the perspectives of the Lubbock family, as well as those of the detectives, forensic pathologists and eyewitnesses to explore what happened that night at Barrymore’s home, and the events that followed.
Terry added: “The story has become so distorted and confused over the years. So much has been said and written. It’s time to put all the facts together in one place.”
In 2007, Barrymore – a former Butlins Red Coat best known for presenting shows including Strike It Lucky, My Kind Of People and My Kind Of Music – was arrested in connection with Stuart’s death, along with Merritt and Kenney. They were never charged with any offence and with insufficient evidence to conclude what had happened, the cases were dropped.
Bosses admitted Barrymore’s arrest was unlawful as the arresting officer did not have reasonable grounds to suspect he was guilty of any offence.
Barrymore sued Essex Police and claimed it was a wrongful arrest that had cost him around £2.5m in lost earnings, but Court of Appeal judges concluded he would be entitled to only “nominal” damages of £1. Once one of Britain’s highest-paid small screen stars, Barrymore responded by dropping his claim and withdrawing from public life, having already lost his lucrative contract with ITV in 2002.
In 2006 he took part in Channel 4′s Celebrity Big Brother, securing second place, but a predicted career revival did not materialise, with Barrymore spotted working at a garden centre.
The 67-year-old had been due to make a TV comeback on Dancing On Ice this year, but was forced to pull out after breaking his wrist over Christmas. Barrymore had given an interview revealing how happy he was to take part, adding: “When I walk into the light, I come alive. I didn’t think it would ever happen again.”
Speaking ahead of the show on Thursday, Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings from Essex Police’s serious crime directorate said: “I believe that he [Stuart] was raped and murdered that night. [...] One or more of those party-goers are responsible for that serious sexual assault on Stuart Lubbock.”
He said three people arrested in connection with the death, including Barrymore, have not been “completely eliminated” from inquiries, while five other people are still being treated as witnesses.
The force and the independent charity Crimestoppers are offering a fresh reward of up to £20,000 for information.
Jennings is confident the force will find the killer and finally secure a conviction, hoping the reward and the documentary will generate new leads.
“We know not everyone at that party was responsible for what happened, but someone was. We also know that not everyone at that party may know what happened, but someone does,” he said.
“We want the people who do have information to come forward and talk to us – 19 years is a long time, loyalties change and it is never too late to do the right thing.
“Some people also arrived at the scene in the hours after Stuart’s death. They may hold the key information and we would like to hear from them.
“It is also possible that individuals at the party may have told other people what happened that night.”
Jennings added: “We did make mistakes in terms of the crime scene. A lot of witnesses said it was a tragic accident so we believed them at that point.”
He said that items from the house including a pool thermometer had gone missing after it was initially searched by police.
An IPCC report published in 2009 found that as well as the thermometer, a detached door handle noted to be at the scene also went missing. The report ruled out allegations made by Stuart’s family that Essex Police officers acted corruptly – but confirmed the police had failed to secure the scene and lost potentially crucial evidence.
In 2017, during Barrymore’s legal proceedings against the force, QC for Essex Police John Beggs suggested the missing thermometer may have been used to sexually assault Lubbock.
He said the dimensions of the object meant it could have inflicted the injuries “spoken of by the experts”.
Beggs told the High Court: “The pool thermometer went missing, never to be found.
“Just such an implement [...] goes missing between the photos that morning and 4.40pm when police realised this was a suspicious death.”
Jennings also believes Stuart’s injuries were too severe to have been consensual or self-inflicted, and suggested he may have been held down.
The officer said: “I can’t rule out a single individual was responsible for the sexual assault and causing Stuart’s death.
“I would say on the balance of probabilities and all of the evidence and intelligence that we have, that it’s more likely more than one person was involved.”
At the beginning of the 90-minute programme on Thursday, the 999 call reporting the incident to police is played.
The caller said: “A fella has drowned in the pool. We have got him out.
“There’s a party going on and someone has just gone out and found him. I think the geezer’s dead, mate.”
Last year, Lubbock’s father made a bid for a fresh inquest to be held into his son’s death. The 74-year-old’s application was blocked by Attorney General Jeremy Wright, who decided there was no new evidence likely to overturn the verdict returned at the original inquest.
It was also the year that Barrymore broke his silence over the death, telling Piers Morgan’s ITV show Life Stories that he “couldn’t be more sorry” for his behaviour that night, and that he is “100% innocent”.
Barrymore was widely reported to have “fled” after Lubbock’s death but, struggling to hold back tears, he claimed he had left his home because he thought it would be “surrounded” by press.
Recalling the events of 2001, he said: “That family deserves proper answers. No parent should have to bury their young.
“I had nothing to do with Stuart. I am innocent. I am not 99.9% innocent. I am 100% innocent and I am entitled to walk around with my head held high for the rest of my life.”
He added: “I didn’t facilitate him taking drugs. I was advised [to stay silent] by lawyers at the time. You don’t have to answer in a coroner’s court.
“I can see lots of things in hindsight. I’m not making excuses. I fucked up. I fucked up. What more do you want? I’m sorry. I couldn’t be more sorry.
“I have to live in hope that somehow, somewhere, there will be an answer. I just hope it will be within what is left of my life.”
Barrymore also rubbished claims made in the press that he had been hosting a “gay orgy”, asking: “How do you have a gay orgy with four girls and five blokes, two of whom are straight?”
Stuart’s family have consistently denied he was gay, with his brother Kevin telling the 2002 inquest: “Stuart was not gay or bisexual. He loved women and he could pull lots of girls. He never spoke of a man coming on to him. It was women, women, women. It is like saying the Pope does not live in Rome.”
Claire Wicks, Stuart’s former partner of six years and the mother of his daughters, told the coroner: “I recall watching the programme Queer As Folk and he would say ‘fucking perverts’. He was not comfortable with it [homosexuality] in the least.”
In 2009, Stuart’s father Terry told the Guardian: “Stuart wasn’t gay, but I’ve got nothing against gay people.”
He believes his son was impressed by Barrymore’s stardom and would have been eager to attend a party at his home.
“Stuart was a show-off – that was his weakness. He’d have gone straight up there to the house just so he could tell everyone about it the next day,” he said.
Barrymore: The Body In The Pool will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Thursday.
