End the wall of silence..tell the truth

Lubbock brother's plea to Barrymore & party guests

- TOM PETTIFOR

THE brother of the man found dead in Michael Barrymore's pool has urged people at the party that night to break their wall of silence.

Stuart Lubbock, 31, died at TV star Barrymore's house on March 31, 2001.

He had internal injuries consistent with a serious sexual assault.

His brother Kevin, 55, said: "With the people at the party, there is a wall of silence. I think many people do know what happened to Stuart but perhaps they are afraid to say."

Asked if he had a message for the eight partygoers, Kevin said: "It has been 20 years now, tell the truth."

On the night of Stuart's death, Barrymore was at the Millennium nightclub in Harlow, Essex, with then-boyfriend Jonathan Kenney before inviting him and others home to Roydon.

At 5.46am, party guest Justin Merritt dialled 999 to say a "geezer" had drowned in the pool. Police did not secure the scene, after appearing to accept that meat factory supervisor Stuart drowned after drinking heavily and taking cocaine and ecstasy.