Barrymore ‘pressured pool death party reveller for sex’
A RETIRED police officer claimed yesterday that Michael Barrymore had been ‘pressurising’ a man for sex hours before he was found dead in the star’s swimming pool.
Former detective Susan Jenkins also said that she believed the man, Stuart Lubbock, was raped and murdered.
Barrymore, 65, is suing Essex Police for £2.4million at the High Court in London over his 2007 arrest on suspicion of the rape and murder of Mr Lubbock. The TV presenter claims his arrest destroyed his career.
Mr Lubbock suffered injuries consistent with sexual assault after going to a party at the house in Roydon, Essex, in 2001.
Post-mortem tests found that the 31-yearold butcher had suffered severe internal injuries indicating sexual assault, and his bloodstream contained ecstasy, cocaine and alcohol. A coroner recorded an open verdict in 2002.
Barrymore, his then boyfriend Jonathan Kenney and Justin Merritt, who were all present when Mr Lubbock died, were held on suspicion of rape and murder six years after Mr Lubbock’s body was found in the swimming pool, but the case was dropped.
Mrs Jenkins, a retired detective constable who worked for Essex Police for 27 years, said a new witness had come forward to say Barrymore had been ‘pressurising’ Mr Lubbock for sex and had got into 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 that there was ‘no evidence’ of a fracas between Barrymore and Mr Lubbock, only between him and Kenney. Mrs Jenkins agreed. ‘There was an argument, raised voices, nothing violent,’ she said. Mrs Jenkins added that the witness was credi- ble and told of a drug-fuelled party and the fracas.
‘How does that support the suspicion that Mr Barrymore was guilty of rape and murder?’ asked Mr Tomlinson.
Mrs Jenkins replied: ‘The pressurising for sex shows it and that Mr Barrymore was interested in a sexual encounter.’
Mr Tomlinson asked: ‘And that is linked to rape and murder how?’ Mrs Jenkins said that 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 in the swimming pool.
The post-mortem report said the cause of death was ‘unascertained’ but possible causes were drowning, heart failure, drink, drugs and hypothermia. A taxi driver, who had driven Barrymore back from a club, came forward to say Barrymore was discussing wanting a ‘sexual encounter’ in the cab, the court heard. ‘I think this is significant,’ said Mrs Jenkins. ‘He was looking for some sort of sexual encounter that night.’
But Mr Tomlinson said there was no evidence Barrymore has ‘used or threatened sexual violence’ that night.
Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said murder requires ‘the intention to cause serious bodily harm or to kill’. He asked what grounds of suspicion Mrs Jenkins had that Barrymore had intended to cause grievous bodily harm or to kill.
She said the doctor ‘did not rule out’ that the internal injuries caused the death. ‘I believe that he had been murdered in an unlawful killing and this could be linked to the rape,’ she added.
Essex Police have admitted the arrest was unlawful because the officer who arrested Barrymore did not have reasonable grounds to suspect he was guilty.
But the force claims he is entitled only to nominal damages because DC Jenkins, who was meant to be the arresting officer but got stuck in traffic and was delayed, knew more about the case. The hearing continues.
‘There was an argument’