Barrymore 'should put cards on table', says father of man found dead in pool
The father of a man found dead in Michael Barrymore’s swimming pool has said it's time for the TV personality to "come clean" about the incident.
Terry Lubbock, 74, said Barrymore should "put his cards on the table and tell everybody if he's in the clear".
His son Stuart Lubbock, 31, was found dead at Barrymore’s then-home in Roydon, Essex on March 31 2001, after a party with five other men and three women.
Speaking to a press conference, Mr Lubbock said: "Something happened and somebody knows exactly what happened to Stuart."
Missing evidence could help investigation, police say
Speaking at a press conference earlier this week, Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings told reporters that evidence pictured at the crime scene has never been recovered.
He said officers were interested in locating a pool thermometer and a door handle, which were seen at the scene of the crime but went missing before they were collected by police.
Speaking to ITV News he said: "I'm committed to solving this crime. This is frustrating, I don't believe anyone climbed over that wall and committed those offences against Stuart, I believe one of those eight people is responsible for that serious sexual assault on Stuart - and then subsequently his death.
"My appeal is to them, to people that know them, either at the time or now. I think someone has probably told someone what's taken place and I want those people to come forward."
Mr Lubbock told a press conference he is confident his son’s killer will finally be found, and thinks Michael Barrymore could be the key.
“I think it’s time he comes clean,” he said.
“It’s time now Michael. I think you know more about this than you have said and the focus will be on you.
“It’s time now for you to either clear your name or put your hands up to what happened because you must know.”
Mr Lubbock added: “I think the people who were there in Michael Barrymore’s home on that day, on that night, are thinking it hasn’t gone away, it won’t go away.
“Even the people who aren’t directly involved in this must be starting to feel very, very uneasy and it’s time now for them.
“The penny’s dropped now, it’s time for people to come forward whether they are directly involved or indirectly involved. Any bit of information they have got, they must come forward with that.”
He called for a fresh post-mortem examination and inquest for his son, while Mr Jennings said Stuart’s injuries were too severe to have been consensual or self-inflicted, and suggested he may have been held down.
New documentary to investigate death
A new programme which charts the police’s investigation into the death, as well as the attempts by entertainer Barrymore to restore his public image following the incident.
The documentary tells the story of the death through interviews with journalists, forensics experts and people who knew Stuart.
At the beginning of the 90-minute programme, the 999 call reporting the incident to police is played.
The caller said: “A fella has drowned in the pool. We have got him out.
“There’s a party going on and someone has just gone out and found him. I think the geezer’s dead mate.”
Last year, Barrymore spoke about the death, telling Piers Morgan’s ITV show Life Stories that he “couldn’t be more sorry” for his behaviour that night, and that he is “100% innocent”.
He was arrested in 2007 but never charged with any offence.
He sued Essex Police and claimed it was a wrongful arrest that had cost him about £2.5 million in lost earnings, but Court of Appeal judges concluded he would be entitled to only “nominal” damages.
Barrymore: The Body In The Pool will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Thursday.