Riddle of star Barrymore’s missing pool thermometer
A POOL thermometer that may have been used to sexually assault a man who died at Michael Barrymore’s home vanished from the scene, a court heard.
The device was the right size to have caused the injuries Stuart Lubbock, 31, suffered but it disappeared in the hours after he was pulled from the entertainer’s swimming pool.
Barrymore, 65, is suing Essex Police for £2.5million over his arrest on suspicion of the rape and murder of Stuart, 31, in 2001. The force, which has accepted liability on a technicality, claims Barrymore should only receive nominal damages of £1. John Beggs QC, for Essex Police, told the High Court the thermometer was in police photos taken the morning Stuart was found but had gone by 4.40pm, “when police realised this was a suspicious death”. He said: “The pool thermometer went missing, never to be found.” The trial continues.