On the 31st March, 2001, Stuart Lubbock (31) died in the hospital after been found inconscious in a swimming pool at the house of Actor, Michael Barrymore. That night the Actor had been having a party in which 9 people were in attendence. His home was located in Roydon, Essex.
Stuart, described as a "bubbly partygoer", had traces of drugs and alcohol in his system. In the postmortem, pathologists discovered severe anal injuries indicating sexual assualt. Despite this, stuart's death was initially treated as an accidental drowning.
The Investigation
On the 6th of March, 2001, unemployed Justin Merritt and Barrymore's partner Jonathan Kenney, were arrested on suspicion of murder. They had been in attendence at the party that night. However neither men were ever charged.
In 2006 the police re-opened the investigation into Stuart's death.
On the 14th of June 2007, Essex Police arrested Barrymore and two other men on suspicion of murder and serious sexual assault in the Lubbock case. The two other men arrested were Jonathan Kenney and Justin Merritt. However, all three men would be re-bailed and Barrymore would later win a civil suit against Essex Police.
On the17th of March 2021, Essex Police confirmed that they had arrested a 50-year-old man from Cheshire in connection with the indecent assault and murder of Stuart Lubbock, as a result of a new appeal made (and a documentary). Lucy Morris of Essex Police stated, "Nine people were at that party. We know that not everyone was responsible for what happened but someone was. Now is the time to come forward, if you haven’t done so already, to set this matter to rest by providing us with any information you have."