Michael Barrymore and the Tragic Death of Stuart Lubbock Part 2: That Night

Cheryl and Michael, in happier times

My first blog on the 999 call is here.

Background

Ok, first of all, Michael Barrymore successfully masqueraded as a straight man for many years (probably felt that he had to) so let’s not forget that he was always a credible liar. Quotes from Michael Barrymore are in blue. Quotes from press/media are in red. Quotes attributed to Stuart Lubbock are in green. Any others are in brown.

Coming Out

Michael Barrymore chooses to do this by joining a drag queen on stage at The White Swan pub. On 'New York, New York', he sings:

Start spreading the news I’m gay today

then throws his wedding ring to the floor. This ‘coming out’ could have been staged better by his team/agents/whatever, with both Michael Barrymore and his wife, Cheryl, present. This drunken outburst shows no concern or empathy for her feelings. 

Despite this and the tabloid headlines that inevitably follow, eg ‘Star Cuddled up to Sleepy Teenage Boys’, ‘Boozed Barrymore Tried to Bed My Sons’, Michael Barrymore’s career more or less continues as normal. In response to his ‘coming out’ he says, gratefully but also with a hint of pride:

When you have the love and support of a nation, no problem, apart from death, is unsolvable.

This proves prophetic. The public might be able to forgive him for hiding his identity, for deceiving himself, for deceiving his wife – we assume that she was not aware of his sexuality when he married her. But a death is another thing.

It isn’t what happens to you in life, it’s how you deal with it.

In this instance, he came out in a cowardly way but at least stayed around to face the repercussions. But how did he react to Stuart Lubbock’s death? By running away.

What do we know about that night?

Date: 30 – 31 March 2001

Location: Millennium nightclub, Harlow, Essex

Stuart, Barrymore, Kevin

Stuart Lubbock and his brother, Kevin, are on a night out, when Stuart comes out of the Gents and tells Kevin: ‘Michael Barrymore’s in the toilets’. 

When Barrymore comes by, there is a brief interchange. Kevin reports that a woman with the Barrymore contingent whispers something in Stuart’s ear. Stuart leaves with them, his brother is not asked so stays there. Possibly he’s been told to ditch his brother and join them. It’s left to our imagination what Barrymore saw in the Gents that inspired this invitation.

Now I’m sure, as are Terry Lubbock, Stuart’s father, and Kevin, that all Stuart expected was a bit of fun, the chance to mix with a celebrity, check out his place, although there are claims that Stuart Lubbock said, hours before his death:

‘I can't believe I’ve pulled Barrymore.’

No source is given for this and even if it were true, I know many a straight guy who would be delighted that a TV star had taken an interest in them, might take pride in this without expecting it to lead to anything other than harmless flirtation.

Timeline

2.30 a.m.: The cab driver, who took Barrymore and Stuart back that night, interviewed for the documentary, says:

'No one had a problem with Barrymore apart from the fact that he liked to drink.'

From this we ascertain that Barrymore was often drunk, that this was known to local cabbies.

Of Barrymore inviting people back that night:

'I didn’t like it. He wasn’t in a fit state to entertain anyone.'

The implication here is that the cabbie believes Barrymore might be taken advantage of.

In the car though, Barrymore is said to have leaned forward to tell the driver:

I could do with a fuck right now.

This is a bald statement of his intention. It also suggests that Barrymore is not that particular about how he gets this but you have to assume he hopes that it will be someone he's bringing back to the house.

2.47 a.m.: The party starts.

Timeline from the paper

Who was there?

There were nine attendees, listed here in alphabetical order.

1. Michael BARRYMORE
2. Kelly CAMPBELL (friend of Kylie's)
3. James FUTERS
4. Claire JONES (friend of Kylie's)
5. John/Jonathan KENNEY (Michael Barrymore’s boyfriend at the time)
6. Stuart LUBBOCK
7. Justin MERRITT
8. Kylie MERRITT (Justin's sister)
9. Simon SHAW

We don't know whether the mystery woman was one of the above or someone who went her own way. It would be interesting to find out.

It is unclear how many of these people already knew each other. Well, we know Kylie knew her friends and her brother. What we do know is that Stuart didn’t know any of them.

The next part of the story is gleaned from interviews that Michael Barrymore has given to TV pundits much later on. As such, it needs analysis and will be covered in Part 4.

5.00 a.m.: Barrymore sees Stuart in the pool. But back to what we know from press coverage of that night. This image supposes that Barrymore fled the scene to Simon Shaw's place before the emergency services were called. But if this time is accurate, what did everyone do between the discovery of the body and calling for help?

5.48 a.m.: 999 call (see Part 1 for analysis of this). Police arrive on scene while man is on the phone.

8.23 a.m.: Stuart is declared dead at Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Barrymore's house

10.35 a.m.: First reporters react. 

‘Thirty-one-year-old Stuart Lubbock was found floating in the swimming pool at Mr Barrymore’s home in Essex. He died soon after.’

‘Stuart Lubbock was found floating unconscious in the pool. But attempts to revive him failed.’

So these statements both imply that Stuart didn’t drown in the water as the 999 caller said but was still alive but unconscious when he was pulled out. But this (mis)information could easily have come from the party-goers or merely be an assumption so it is not necessarily true. It could just be a part of the narrative Barrymore wants to establish (see Part 1) or a simple attempt at obfuscation. No one mentions that it was Barrymore who found him. This fact has not been disclosed yet.

A journalist says:

‘The immediate assumption was that the victim was gay because who the hell would go back with Michael Barrymore? A group of young men.’

This fails to take into account the fact that there were three girls in the group. The presence of the girls might have made Stuart feel safe.

‘The man, thought to be gay, was found in just his underpants.’

Again, we’d have to suppose that this is a guess possibly by the same reporter. Stuart isn’t gay. They add ‘in just his underpants’ because it’s titillating. If the guests were given shorts as Barrymore claims (see Part 4), why would Stuart be in his underwear? Was he re-dressed by someone?

A spokesman says Michael Barrymore is ‘deeply saddened’.

‘It certainly seemed to be a pretty nasty poolside party.’

This might again be an assumption – who knows? Is it based on hearsay about similar parties at Barrymore's or purely an attempt to put a sexual spin on the story?

Oscar Pistorius

‘Michael Barrymore weeps as gay pal dies face down in his pants.’

More sensationalism and lies. I’m not sure if Barrymore was crying at any point (and if he was I’d say that these were the sort of tears that Oscar Pistorius shed over Reeva Steenkamp, i.e. tears for himself, his career and the fact that his life will never be the same). What I do know is:
1. Stuart wasn’t gay. 2. Stuart wasn’t Barrymore’s ‘pal’. 3. Stuart wasn’t ‘face down’. When I analyse the later interviews you’ll see that Barrymore states that Stuart was face up.

‘Screams are heard as gay binge ends with body found in pool.’

Again we’re not told the pertinent facts here, that it was Barrymore who found the body and Barrymore who screamed. The ‘gay binge’ is misleading too although we have to assume that alcohol played its part.

The police arrive and, led by the report that this is an accidental drowning, fail to secure what later turns out to be the crime scene. This is a common feature of many of the cases I’ve written about. The scene ends up being contaminated by people going in and out and taking or moving things. Although it’s easy to blame the police for this, it usually happens because when they arrive on the scene, it’s been represented as something it’s not by the people there. See Oscar Pistorius, JonBenet, Madeleine McCann.

16.40 p.m.: Postmortem 1 starts, conducted by Dr Michael Heath.

Part 3 will cover the postmortems.

I have borrowed images from the internet for illustrative purposes.

Justice4Stuart
Always remember the victim

Stuart Lubbock, Rest in Peace

Stuart Lubbock, Rest in Peace