Man in Barrymore’s pool ‘was murder victim’

A retired police officer has  told the High Court that the man found dead in Michael Barrymore’s swimming pool  had been raped and murdered.

The TV comic, 65, is suing Essex Police for £2.5million over his 2007 arrest on suspicion of the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock, who was found dead in his pool in 2001.

Barrymore claims his arrest over Mr Lubbock’s death destroyed his career.

Mr Lubbock suffered injuries consistent with sexual assault after going to a party at the house in Roydon, Essex.

Post-mortem tests found the 31-year-old butcher had suffered severe internal injuries indicating sexual assault, and his bloodstream contained ecstasy, cocaine and alcohol.

The Essex and Thurrock coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray recorded an open verdict in 2002.

Barrymore, his then boyfriend Jonathan Kenney and Justin Merritt, who were all present when Stuart died, were held on suspicion of rape and murder six years later but the case was dropped.

Retired Det Con Susan Jenkins was meant to be the arresting officer but got stuck in traffic, the hearing was told.

Ms Jenkins, who had worked for Essex Police for 27 years, told the court she believed Mr Lubbock was raped and murdered.

She said a new witness had come forward to say Barrymore had been ‘pressurising’ Stuart for sex and had got in a ‘fracas’ with Kenney over it.

‘Mr Barrymore was seen to be pressurising the man for sex but was told he was straight,’ she said.

‘There was a fracas.’

Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Barrymore, clarified there was ‘no evidence’ of a fracas between Barrymore and Mr Lubbock, only between him and Kenney.

Ms Jenkins agreed.

‘There was an argument, raised voices, nothing violent,’ she said.

Ms Jenkins said the witness was credible and told of a drug-fuelled party and a fracas after Kenney told Barrymore that Mr Lubbock was straight.

‘How does that support the suspicion that Mr Barrymore was guilty of rape and murder?’, asked Mr Tomlinson.

‘The pressurising for sex shows it and that Mr Barrymore was interested in a sexual encounter,’ replied DC Jenkins.

‘And that is linked to rape and murder how?’, Mr Tomlinson said.

Ms Jenkins said it was when put with ‘all the other evidence’.

Mr Tomlinson told the court the argument took place two hours before Mr Lubbock’s body was found.

The post mortem said the cause death was ‘unascertained’ but possible causes of death were drowning, heart failure, drink, drugs and hypothermia.

The doctor ‘could not exclude’ that the internal injuries were made by a penis but made the suggestion a sexual assault was carried out using a hairbrush.

Barrymore’s friend Shaun Davis had told his cousin that a hairbrush had been used in a sexual way that night, the court heard.

Mr Tomlinson again questioned how that led to an arrest for rape and murder.

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said that rape had to involve penetration by a penis.

The former officer said the doctor had not ruled it out.

She also said Barrymore was seen in an unexplained ‘compromising position’ at the Millennium nightclub in Harlow before returning home to party.

Ms Jenkins said this evidence led her to believe there had been ‘a sexual incident’ that night.

A taxi driver, who had driven Barrymore back from the club, came forward to say Barrymore had he was discussing wanting a ‘sexual encounter’ in the cab, the court heard.

‘I think this is significant,’ said Ms Jenkins.

‘He was looking for some sort of sexual encounter that night.’

Barrymore was questioned by police in 1998 for another undisclosed matter but released without charge.

Ms Jenkins said: ‘Past evidence in relation to the arrest shows again Mr Parker’s (Mr Barrymore’s) intention for sexual encounters with strangers.’

Mr Tomlinson said: ‘Those are grounds you relied on for suspicion?’

‘Yes’, replied Ms Jenkins.

Ms Jenkins said Barrymore was known to ‘approach strangers for drugs and sex’.

‘Is the fact that he was interested in a sexual encounter evidence that they murdered someone?’, asked Mr Tomlinson.

‘No but it goes towards the rape,’ said Ms Jenkins.

Mr Tomlinson said there was no evidence Barrymore has ‘used or threatened sexual violence’ that night.

He said Ms Jenkins was wrong to use as a reason for arrest that Barrymore had offered no explanation to why he ‘fled’ the scene and took things with him.

Police had accepted he was worried about ‘press intrusion’ and said what he had taken from the scene was a jumper.

Ms Jenkins said all she knew was that he had taken an item with him.

She said Barrymore had changed clothes but Mr Tomlinson said he had come home from the club put on shorts then changed into fresh clothes before leaving.

‘We were not getting the truth from people, we had got accounts, information was different from what we were originally told from people at the scene,’ she said.

Ms Jenkins said she believed a rape had occurred.

‘The doctor said it looked like there had been third party involvement, it made the evidence clear,’ she said.

‘The evidence of blunt force trauma, the doctor could not exclude penile penetration without lubrication.

‘The doctor said those injuries were not in relation to an accidental event because of the injuries suffered.

‘He said there were severe injuries with third party involvement even if the injuries did not necessarily cause the death.’

‘It was that statement, a window of opportunity and the arrest plan that provided grounds for arrest.’

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said murder requires ‘the intention to cause serious bodily harm or to kill’.

He asked what grounds of suspicion Ms Jenkins had that Barrymore had intended to cause GBH or to kill before arresting him.

She said the doctor ‘did not rule out’ that the internal injuries caused the death.

‘Also the fact that there had been a death of a healthy male, the fact that he was found in the pool so we lose evidence,’ she said.

‘I believe that he had been murdered in an unlawful killing and this could be linked to the rape.’

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said he was asking her for ‘specific reasons’ for thinking Mr Lubbock had been murdered.

Essex Police admit the arrest was unlawful, as the officer lacked reasonable grounds to suspect guilt.

But they claim he could have been lawfully arrested by another officer and is entitled to just £1.

Barrymore was famous for light entertainment shows such as Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People and Kids Say the Funniest Things.

He was a regular face on TV for three decades in the 1980s-2000s.

The hearing continues.
ends