Father of man found dead in Michael Barrymore's Essex home has terminal cancer

Terry Lubbock (left), Michael Barrymore (centre) and Stuart Lubbock (left)
Terry Lubbock has long campaigned for answers Credit: ITV News

The father of a man whose body was found in Michael Barrymore's swimming pool nearly 20 years ago says he has terminal cancer.

31-year-old Stuart Lubbock was found at Mr Barrymore's then-home in Roydon, Essex, in 2001.

His father Terry said he's been told he only has months to live and is worried he will not live long enough to find out what happened to his son.

Stuart Lubbock (left) was found dead at star Michael Barrymore's home Credit: ITV News

Earlier this year, Mr Lubbock, 76, of Harlow, Essex, said he wanted a coroner to oversee a new inquest.

In January, Mr Lubbock said he thinks information must have emerged which justifies a fresh inquiry by a coroner.Speaking to PA News Agency about his cancer diagnosis he said:

A coroner recorded an open verdict after an inquest in 2002 and, three years ago, the then-attorney general, Jeremy Wright, refused to give Mr Lubbock the go-ahead to make an application to the High Court for a second inquest.

But Mr Lubbock says a fresh Essex Police appeal, which coincided with the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary Barrymore: The Body In The Pool, in February 2020, has changed the landscape.

Barrymore's former home in Roydon Credit: ITV News

A senior detective told reporters a year ago that he believed Stuart Lubbock had been raped and murdered and that "one or more" of the party-goers was responsible for "that serious sexual assault".

Mr Lubbock says he would like police to tell an inquest jury why they believe that.

He said he had hoped that the police would make progress as a result of the broadcast of the documentary.

"I've been disappointed," he said.

"But something must have emerged in the last year which might lead to a different inquest verdict. There should be another inquest."

No-one has been charged in relation to Stuart Lubbock's death.

Mr Barrymore, now 68, was arrested in 2007 but never charged with any offence.

In March, Mr Barrymore spoke to ITV's Good Morning Britain programme and described the Channel 4 documentary as "vile and vicious".

Mr Barrymore said nobody who was at his house on the night of Stuart Lubbock's death. knew what happened.

Essex Police say the investigation is continuing.