Michael Barrymore documentary claims TV star's PA 'removed evidence' from scene of Stuart Lubbock's death
The object disappeared after being photographed by the scene of the crime
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Your support makes all the difference.A new documentary about Michael Barrymore claims that the presenter’s personal assistant removed evidence from the scene of Stuart Lubbock’s death.
Lubbock was found dead in the swimming pool of Barrymore’s home in Essex in March 2001, an incident that the TV star has insisted he had nothing to do with.
In the new Channel 4 special, titled Barrymore: The Pool in the Body, Essex Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings says he believes the presenter’s PA, Michael Browne, swiped a pool thermometer that is believed to have caused internal anal injuries, which an autopsy found Lubbock had suffered around the time of his death.
The object had earlier been photographed next to the scene of the crime.
“Browne was wrongfully allowed back into the scene where he was seen to be tidying up some items after we’d managed to photograph the scene,” he says in the documentary. “Those items have gone missing...”
He continued: “A lot of the witnesses were saying that they thought it was a drowning. We probably believed it at that point.”
Coroner Michael Heath adds: “An object like this or even this object could have produced the injuries I identified on Stuart’s anus if this had been passed into the anal canal a number of times.”
Barrymore claimed he found Lubbock’s body at a party he was holding and called out for others to help retrieve his body. Ahead of the documentary, Lubbock's father Terry has urged Barrymore to "come clean" about the events that led to his son's death.
He plays no part in the documentary, but a representative has been contacted for comment.
Barrymore: The Body in the Pool will be broadcast on Thursday 6 February at 9pm on Channel 4.