Michael Barrymore and the Tragic Death of Stuart Lubbock Part 1: The 999 Call

Stuart Lubbock

Published to coincide with the anniversary of Stuart Lubbock's death. Let's find out the truth.

This blog series was prompted by the recent Channel 4 documentary Michael Barrymore: The Body in the Pool. First of all I'm a little appalled by the title. It uses the TV star's name (to draw viewers, that's acceptable) but the victim is just 'the body'. This is disrespectful and callous. Stuart Lubbock was a person. He mattered and he had a name. It diminishes him to call him ‘the body’. At least have the courtesy to use his name as well as Michael Barrymore's. As in my previous crime blogs, it analyses the language used by those connected in some way to Stuart's death.

My intention with this blog is to analyse some of the statements made by those involved in the incident, starting with the 999 call. I'm not apportioning blame, just pointing out how what people say (and the words they use) and choose not to say can reveal underlying attitudes and intentions. As so much has been published, said and broadcast on this case, I have a lot to consider so will publish the blog in sections. The second part is mainly background, who was there, etc. and you can find it here. The third part covers the four post-mortems and can be read here.

Justin Merritt

The 999 call 31 March 2001 5.48 a.m.

The caller, Justin Merritt's words are in blue, any other quotes in purple.

When the caller is asked for the address, he has to be prompted by someone else (but who? Michael Barrymore?) on every line, from the house number to the town, which suggests that he either doesn’t know the place well or is unsure what he’s allowed to say and is waiting for a cue. Perhaps he's more biddable than the other guests. This kind of prompting puts me in mind of Patsy Ramsey’s 911 call over JonBenet.*

*If you haven't heard of the JonBenet Ramsey case, See my blog for more on the strange words of John and Patsy Ramsey.

The Barrymore 999 call goes like this. Asked for the address:

Someone in the background says Number 4.

Number 4

Someone in the background says Beaumont Park Drive.

Beaumont Park Drive

Someone in the background says Roydon.

Roydon

Someone in the background says Essex.
Essex

This begins with an attempt to establish a narrative, similar to Kate McCann’s cry on the night Madeleine disappeared. She is variously described as saying: Someone’s taken her! They've taken Madeleine! and The fucking bastards have taken her!

What this does is put into everyone's minds the idea that a) Madeleine's been abducted b) A third party is involved in the abduction, perhaps more than one person c) Kate and Gerry are not involved. 

It's also similar to Patsy Ramsey's assertion, the first thing she says on her 911 call:

We have a kidnapping.

This is such a strange way to put it. It sounds as if John said to Patsy, 'We need to call the police' and Patsy asked 'Well, what shall we tell them?' and he said: 'That it's a kidnapping'.

The pool at Barrymore's property, hot tub in foreground

Back to Barrymore, the call continues.

A geezer’s drowned in the pool.

This sentence has several effects:

1. It sets up the drowning/accident idea, so establishing the narrative as mentioned above, what the caller/prompter wants us to believe.
2. It distances the caller from the person in the pool. He doesn’t name the victim (a bit like the Channel 4 documentary) and acts like it’s someone random, whom no one there knows, who's turned up and drowned in the pool although by the time the call was made, you'd have to assume that the caller and the rest of the group know it's Stuart Lubbock but possibly I'm doing them a disservice, perhaps they didn't know his name at this stage.
3. The use of ‘geezer’ is almost derogatory, akin to ‘Oh no! Some geezer’s only gone and drowned in the pool!’ Plus it has the effect of making light of the rest of the sentence.
4. From this and the sentence that follows we know that the person in the pool is already dead, has died before this call was made. Why? Because you wouldn't use 'drowned' of someone who was still alive. Drowned is an ending, it's final. We don't know whether he was dead when he was put in the pool. 

When the emergency operator questions him, the caller rephrases the statement slightly.

A fella’s drowned in the pool?

He uses ‘fella’ instead of ‘geezer’, but the word has the same connotations though is perhaps slightly less dismissive. This time, however, his intonation goes up at the end; it’s said as a question, as if now the caller himself doesn’t really believe what he’s saying.

Asked: Are they still in the water?

No. We've got them out.
We're not told who the 'We' is.

Not sure of the order here but we hear at one point:
Fucking hell.
Asked: Have you done resuscitation?
Did resuscitation. It ain't workin'. Don't know how long he's been there.
And the tone of that last sentence also implies that he doesn't care. The caller's affect is distinctly matter-of-fact, unbothered. This account is at odds with that of James Futers in which he claims Stuart was still breathing when pulled out of the pool. And it suggests that Stuart could have been in the pool, unconscious or dead for a while without anyone noticing.

Then he adds information, an attempt to insert at least something that's actually true.

There’s a party going on and someone’s just gone out and found him.

Again, the victim is still not named although by this time you would have hoped/expected that they'd worked out who it was. The mysterious ‘someone’ we now know was Michael Barrymore and you'd have to assume that the caller knows it was Barrymore but opts not to name him but for a different reason: to try to keep him out of the picture for as long as possible.

Jonathan Kenney

In relation to this, I've just learnt that in Jonathan Kenney's first statement to police, he lied, saying that Michael Barrymore wasn't at the house on the night Stuart Lubbock died, presumably in an attempt to protect Barrymore. But it also reveals that the truth is not an imperative here.

Then the caller ad-libs with extraneous information that has no bearing on the situation at all. As before, this unwarranted outburst of information is possibly something that the caller knows is true so he wants to get it in, to prove himself reliable, normal, straight. 

I tell you what, mate, the first time I’ve been out in four f****** years, I have me kids every weekend, and f****** hell.

Who cares? How is this relevant? And the expletives make it even less appropriate.

So, let's break it down as Peter Hyatt might.

I tell you what, mate.

The purpose of the language used in this diatribe is to align the caller with the operator and establish a rapport, a chumminess. The 'I tell you what' is informal and invites the operator to listen to him as he relates a 'story' and trust what he says because we're all mates here, the same sort of people.

The first time I’ve been out in four f****** years.

This is said to alert the operator to the fact that the caller is not at a party every night, that this is unusual for him. It shows a callous disregard for the victim and even an unspoken attempt to blame him for the fact that the caller’s night out has been ruined and thus also reveals a disturbing lack of perspective. The person in the pool is dead.

Aerial view of Barrymore's property

I have me kids every weekend.

This is an attempt to ensure that the emergency operator realises that the caller is a family man, he has children, who he cares about so has with him every weekend but it also implies that he expects kudos for this. What he's trying to say is: if there was a gay orgy, he wasn’t involved. And moreover, we have to assume that the caller was chosen to make the call because he was married and had children, to steer the emergency services away from the idea that there was anything untoward going on. What we see is that the caller has no sympathy for the dead ‘geezer’. Even if you didn’t know him well, you would have to think this was a tragic end to his night, that perhaps should take precedence over your momentary disappointment. 

... and f****** hell.
More of the same. Said to show shock but comes across as self-involved somehow.

You don’t expect it, do you?

No you wouldn't. Unfortunately this still comes across as uncaring, just a casual aside. There's no empathy.

F****** hell. I think the geezer’s dead, mate.

The inclusion of 'Fucking hell' is supposed to imply surprise although we already know that Stuart is dead and so does the caller. We know this from his first sentence: 'A geezer's drowned in the pool'. The inclusion of ‘mate’ is another attempt to involve the operator in the situation, to make it seem like we're all in the same boat. Still, it’s just a ‘geezer’ to him, no one worth naming. He's a bit like Channel 4 in this.

Along with this, we need to consider:

1. The decidedly offhand tone of the caller throughout. He doesn't sound in a panic or overly concerned, only rising to annoyance when talking about himself and his night out. He positions Stuart as a bit of party pooper whose death is only significant to him inasmuch as it's ruined his fun. This doesn't mean he's necessarily guilty of anything but it also demonstrates how little he cares. He is later reported as being in the jacuzzi with Jonathan Kenney while Stuart was dive-bombing into the pool. This puts them both at the scene at one point, if we're to believe Stuart really drowned. Did no one notice that Stuart was in trouble?
2. What is missing from the content of this call. He hasn't panicked. He hasn't asked for advice on what to do. He hasn't said anyone is attempting CPR. To me, this means that Stuart is dead and beyond advice or resuscitation.

Michael Barrymore

Conclusion

So, we gather from the 999 call that the caller drew the short straw (no one could have wanted to perform this difficult task), probably because he was a family man. His statements show that he doesn't really feel any responsibility himself for what happened.

What we also know is that Michael Barrymore is not mentioned at all, probably because it was hoped that he could be spirited away without anyone knowing.

Later it becomes apparent that Barrymore's PA, Michael Browne, was called after Barrymore had fled the scene. It would be interesting to find out whether he was called before or after the 999 call. Did Barrymore consider his own career and reputation ahead of the need to involve the emergency services? I'm told he did call afterwards. If not, it would be similar to when Oscar Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp and called his estate manager and friend, Johan Stander, before calling for an ambulance. See my blog on the Pistorius trial. Damage limitation has to be achieved before the police arrive. I will consider further echoes of the Pistorius case and the JonBenet Ramsey case in the blogs that follow.

And of course, most importantly, it has accomplished its prime goal of establishing the narrative: A man has drowned in the swimming pool.

Justice4Stuart
Always remember the victim.

Stuart Lubbock, Rest in Peace.

Stuart Lubbock, also a father