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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Michael Barrymore

585 replies

ChairsAndStairs · 06/02/2020 21:29

I’ve always wondered why his career was so badly damaged by what happened at his house.

It was awful that a man died, but he was never found guilty and it was never proved that he was in any way involved - as far as I remember.

He was so popular before and had a really strong career. AIBU to wonder why people turned against him so quickly?

I don’t mean this to be a goady thread, just generally wondering why he was the ‘only’ fall guy for what happened.

OP posts:
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6
labazsisgoingmad · 07/02/2020 18:03

i may be naive but i read that there was a woman there why did she not do something to help the poor man? it was obviously a 'gay party' so what did she do there?

Servalan · 07/02/2020 18:06

I do remember a lot of homophobia towards MB at the time he came out - though it does sound like he not only outed himself, but turned it into a performance. Made it into something he played to a crowd, where his wife became almost incidental.

I never really liked seeing him on TV back in the day because often he reminded me of people I knew when I was a kid that everyone wanted to be friends with, but were also slightly scared of. They'd choose some hapless person, pretend to be their mate whilst winking at everyone else, then kind of use that person as a prop in their comedy performance where their humanity is removed and everyone laughs at their humiliation, but it's OK because the bully is a cheeky chappie - and don't you have a sense of humour? The Susan Boyle clip and the clip on the documentary of him climbing on top of that women are a couple of cases in point.

It's an odd way to gain approval from people and to be liked, but the world is full of bullies that behave like this and full of people that are acolytes to that type of person. If you then do that type of thing for an actual living and it gives you love and approval and makes you a national treasure... It does seem that people love watching that kind of cruelty and buy into it and almost become complicit in it - I suppose it's why laughing at bad auditions on the X Factor is so popular and why Jeremy Kyle got away with the shit that he did on TV for so long.

I'm another person that hadn't realised just what Stuart Lubbock went through that night. From the headlines, at the time, I'd assumed it was a drowning and that people were just being salacious about it because it was depicted as some sort of seedy "gay thing". Just thought it was the tabloids with their usual homophobic nonsense and didn't pay it much attention. That poor man though :(

Trouble is, it was so long ago, people were off their heads/unreliable. The scene wasn't secured properly. There's been all this public interest. I don't know whether MB was involved or not. I suppose all people can do on a thread like this is speculate, which isn't always helpful. Not sure why I'm posting about it really. I suppose the documentary was just really upsetting and unsettling.

My heart goes out to that poor family. I feel upset and disturbed just watching the documentary and I didn't even know Stuart Lubbock - to hear that someone you loved went through something so horrific must be devastating. I really hope they are able to get the answers they need :(

CSIblonde · 07/02/2020 18:16

Well it's his house & two of his mates were the only other men there. Also, fleeing the scene makes him look guilty. And he paid two witnesses there that night not to testify. He was seen removing items from a drawer & "leaving with something tucked under his arm". And he's been accused of sexual assault twice before if you Google, (another documentary on You Tube mentions it tho last nights didn't) but both much younger men backed out of going to Court at the time. Also the pwtichae injury showed he was held face down at some point & suffocated, prob while being raped, so one to rape, one to hold him down at least = two of the three men there were involved.

CSIblonde · 07/02/2020 18:18
  • petichae (small broken bloodvessels in eyes & on face)
PickwickThePlockingDodo · 07/02/2020 18:21

Which suggests to me that two of them held him down whilst the third raped him

I thought that but wouldn't there be more bruising around his arms?

The saddest bit in the documentary is when Stuart's dad said that the events around his death had dominated so much of his life that they had erased his memory of his son.

That bit made me cry Sad

MarthasGinYard · 07/02/2020 18:22

Apparently he had assaulted his wife at some point in their marriage.

I really hope the truth comes out

LoseLooseLucy · 07/02/2020 18:30

I thought that but wouldn't there be more bruising around his arms?

I suppose if there was bruising they could argue it was from the attempts at getting him out of the pool.

SouthWestmom · 07/02/2020 18:32

But there wasn't - it wasn't in the autopsy reports. So no one had to make up reasons for the bruising on his arms as it didn't exist.

DiNATwist · 07/02/2020 18:51

Without wishing to diminish Stuart Lubbock, his long estranged father only came out of the woodwork when a red top newspaper paid him during it's 'expose' of the 'truth' about the death. Neither Barrymore nor anyone else was ever charged in respect of the death. There were serious failings in the police investigation; compelling evidence that the body was defiled post-mortem after it was taken from the scene and was supposedly secured- strong indications that this was an attempt to incriminate Barrymore and others for a crime that didn't actually happen. Barrymore was the focus of the investigation because it was his house and he was a celebrity at the time. The ongoing police harassment/ hacking went on for years apparently, with some ex/ police officers completely fixated on taking Barrymore down regardless.
I'm not defending him in any way, just pointing out that the evidence was apparently insufficient to charge him or anyone else, let alone secure any sort of conviction.
Being somewhere where/when someone dies isn't in itself a crime or proof of criminality.

LoseLooseLucy · 07/02/2020 18:57

compelling evidence that the body was defiled post-mortem after it was taken from the scene and was supposedly secured- strong indications that this was an attempt to incriminate Barrymore and others for a crime that didn't actually happen

That sounds like a movie plot, seriously far-fetched.

Buster72 · 07/02/2020 18:58

@DiNATwist
Your not Barrymore PR agent are you?

What evidence do you have about cops trying to take him down?
What evidence of that the body was defiled post mortem?

That Essex police cocked up is evident.

And a load of questions are unanswered

BaolFan · 07/02/2020 19:00

Unfortunately that 'compelling evidence' didn't include the items his PA removed though, did it?

SouthWestmom · 07/02/2020 19:01

The evidence wasn't there because

Barrymore fucked off with it (alllegedly)

His PA fucked if with more of it (allegedly)

Compelling evidence that the body was defiled in a morgue - Barrymore met a nurse who said he worked there and said he was fine when he came in

No one gave any hint of foul play when the police arrived meaning it was treated as a drowning

Hacking?

Absolutepowercorrupts · 07/02/2020 19:04

@Logfootlightoe
He’s gay, remember how horribly he was outed
It was his choice to declare his sexuality live on stage, he wasn't outed at all.

ExcessiveAdmin · 07/02/2020 19:05

@DiNATwist, that all sounds rather tin foil hat-ish. Jolly good novel plot but extremely far fetched.
Unfortunately the anal injuries could not have been caused after death due to the amount of contusions ( bruising). You only bruise when alive I’m afraid so your claim doesn’t hold with the autopsy reports.

Roussette · 07/02/2020 19:07

Hmmm..... when they keep calling it a party, the public imagines 100 people, not a gathering of 9 or 12 or however many that was. We've got a fairly large house (not huge) and if I had friends round I would bloody well notice if 1, 2 or 3 disappeared for any time. It wasn't a party in my sense of the word, it was a gathering of a few people.

Being in your own home and buggering off when someone is lying there dead .. to me.. means something. And the guy who made the 999 call, he acted like it was nothing on the phone and it had spoilt his fun of a 'party'

Lifeisgenerallyfun · 07/02/2020 19:08

That Susan Boyle clip should have been enough to end his career tbh!

Noodlenosefraggle · 07/02/2020 19:44

Blaming mortuary staff for defiling a dead body is beyond reprehensible. Especially to say they did it in such a way as to rip the poor blokes insides in two. And especially as it wasn't true- the bruising couldnt have happened to a corpse- and the subsequent- 'he fell and suffered horrific internal injuries by dive bombing' just goes to show its just one implausible excuse after another to hide what went on in that house. Did they also pull him out of the pool by his neck? Is that why he had marks on his face that show evidence of strangling or being held in a headlock?

Puzzledandpissedoff · 07/02/2020 19:51

That Susan Boyle clip should have been enough to end his career tbh!

You'd think so wouldn't you? But he was still a money spinner for producers back then, and what chance did someone like Susan Boyle stand against that?

And I realise lawyers have to come up with something for their clients, but it's usually "he was drunk / had an awful childhood / is really remorseful" ... isn't suggesting that medics defiled a dead body pushing their luck a bit? Hmm

MarthasGinYard · 07/02/2020 20:10

Just read the court hearing

Who was Mr Futers?

Confused by the talk of a 'hairbrush' used in the assault.

Deciphering all the legal blurb is quite difficult but it's so obvious to read that the experts know it was assault or rape and murder.

NewAgain123 · 07/02/2020 20:15

I feel for Stuart's family

IMO MB was fully involved in what happened that night

MB doesn't appear, to me, someone who will take the blame for something he wasn't involved in

No way would he lose his career for something he didn't do, he would've sung like a canary, if it wasn't him

I hope Stuart's family get the justice they deserve

Each person at that party knows what happened, basic human decency should have them come forward with the truth!!

WanttogotoParis · 07/02/2020 20:22

Watched this last night. I remember it happening at the time but I thought the man had just drowned at a party. I'd assumed a party with loads of people. Had no idea he'd been raped.

As he'd been raped wouldn't there have been DNA? Sorry if that's a thick question.

Also can't understand why all of the people kept quiet, surely they'd have all had to have got their stories straight.

MimiLaRue · 07/02/2020 20:22

I'm absolutely gobsmacked by this police statement:

"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."
Mr Jennings, from Essex Police's serious crime directorate, said: "We did make mistakes in terms of the crime scene. A lot of witnesses said it was a tragic accident so we believed them at that point."

They BELIEVED THEM AT THAT POINT? a young, healthy man was found dead in unexplained circumstances so they didnt bother to properly protect the scene because they just believed their story it was a simple accident?
Un-fcking-believable.

Imagine all the murders that would have gone unsolved if the suspects had simply said "it was an accident guvnor!" so the police hadn't bothered to preserve the crime scene.
I thought that any time a person was found dead in unexplained circumstances it had to be treated with an open mind that anything is possible, until a post mortem has taken place. That means preserving ALL evidence and properly examining the scene with forensics.

Stuart's poor family- they have been let down by everyone here.

MimiLaRue · 07/02/2020 20:23

As he'd been raped wouldn't there have been DNA? Sorry if that's a thick question

I think they believe he was raped with an object