Tag: True Crime

Shame On Michael Barrymore’s Supporters

Elizabeth J. Bond returns to the case of the murder of Stuart Lubbock, debunks myths about what happened that night and slams Michael Barrymore and his shameful supporters

It has recently come to my attention that the disgraced TV personality Michael Barrymore still has a number of high-profile friends and supporters. They include Fiona Phillips who has repeatedly defended him on social media – both before and after the 2020 documentary on the death of Stuart Lubbock at Barrymore’s Essex home aired.

Even worse are boorish broadcasters Alex Belfield and Steve Allen. They have both attacked Stuart’s late father Terry, accusing him of not being able to accept his son was gay and of “droning on” about this tragic case.

Some might say that such comments are best ignored. However, this is the wrong approach to take as Phillips, Belfield and Allen are people with a considerable following and influence. It is also important to debunk certain myths about what happened that night once and for all. These have unfortunately been repeated as gospel in the press and even in the documentary, which did a major disservice to the case by going with The Body in the Pool as a title.

In essence, there are three main facts that everyone should be aware of.

FACT 1 – STUART LUBBOCK WAS NOT FOUND IN THE SWIMMING POOL

A recording of the 999 call to the emergency services can be heard here. It’s an extraordinary thing to listen to, especially the part where the caller moans to the operator that this happened on the one night he’d been out in four years, but please note the following exchange:

Caller: A fella’s drowned in the pool.

Operator: Are they still in the water, there?

Caller: No. We’ve got them out.

Indeed, when the ambulance arrived, the body was lying beside the pool – not actually in it. This means that NO independent witnesses ever saw Stuart in the pool, and we only have the word of Barrymore and the others present that he was found there.

So, can we trust their testimonies as reliable?

The short answer is: “No.”

Virtually none of the witness statements concurred with each other.

To cite a few examples, Barrymore claimed to have found Stuart’s body in the pool, while Simon Shaw stated that he was the one who made the discovery.

Barrymore also asserted in television interviews that he saw Stuart floating face-up. Yet Jonathan Kenney said that Stuart was face-down. At one point, Kenney went on to say that he and Kylie Merritt managed to drag Stuart out of the pool, but Shaw testified that he and James Futers were the people who retrieved the body from the water.

None of this adds up. We must therefore seriously ask ourselves whether Stuart was ever in the pool at all. Or was this a ruse to cover up the true cause of Stuart’s death?

I urge people to stop saying Stuart was found in the pool. Not just because he wasn’t, but also because it’s important to firmly close the door to the idea that Stuart died following a swim which went wrong.

Which brings us to….

FACT 2 – STUART LUBBOCK DID NOT DROWN

Stuart’s body was subjected to a number of examinations. Of those, only the first one conducted by Dr Michael Heath named drowning as a cause of death – perhaps because Heath had (wrongly) been told that Stuart had been found in a pool. However, the authorities were not satisfied with Heath’s conclusions, hence why further post-mortems were ordered.

Indeed, Heath’s competence as a doctor has been called into serious question. As at the time of writing, he is under investigation by the General Medical Council for a catalogue of errors in several other autopsies. In one instance, a family feared that they had been given the wrong body because Heath’s report contained so many mistakes – including mention of a gall bladder, even though the relative in question had hers removed some years prior.

In any event, none of the other pathologists thought that Stuart had drowned. What they did all agree on was that he had suffered horrific internal injuries. For the benefit of Alex Belfield, I’ll state here that Stuart was not gay. On the contrary, he was well-known locally as a “ladies’ man”.

However, even if he had been gay, there is absolutely no way he could have consented to the act which produced those kinds of injuries. The fourth pathologist, Professor Jack Crane believes that they were serious enough to have induced a heart attack and been the real cause of Stuart’s death. Moreover, the second pathologist, Professor Chris Milroy identified ‘petechiae’ on Stuart’s face, which were consistent with restraint and strangulation while the attack was carried out.

I make no claims as to who was responsible for Stuart’s murder, but there is no doubt that the case has been hampered by the guests maintaining a wall of silence about what occurred that night.

And, in particular…

FACT 3 – BARRYMORE HAS DONE NOTHING BUT HINDER THE INVESTIGATION WITH HIS ACTIONS

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Barrymore stated that the Lubbock family deserve proper answers. This is ironic as none have been forthcoming from him. From the very beginning, Barrymore’s antics have obstructed rather than helped the investigation.

Not only did he flee the scene before the emergency services arrived, but he refused to answer any questions at the inquest. Even worse, when Stuart’s internal injuries were revealed, Barrymore insisted that they had not been inflicted at his house, but by a nurse at the hospital. This was subsequently proven to be nonsense – but he succeeded in derailing the inquiry for two years while police had to investigate his ridiculous claim.

That’s before we get on to some of the lies he’s told – from his assertion that he couldn’t swim (strongly denied by his late ex-wife, Cheryl and others) to giving evasive and contradictory responses when asked whether drugs had been taken that night. Or the fact that he actually sued Essex Police for arresting him, in a failed attempt to gain £2.5 million in compensation.

Above all, if Barrymore genuinely wants to help, then why has he blocked everyone who mentions Stuart Lubbock from his social media accounts? This includes the official @Justice4Stuart Twitter account, The Steeple Times, and Stuart’s ex-wife, Sue Homan.

As Sue herself has said, the disgraced entertainer could assist by simply retweeting an appeal for information, but to my knowledge, he has never done so. A look at his Twitter feed reveals a man more obsessed with reviving his career via TikTok than anything else.

Again, I stress that I make no claims as to who exactly is responsible for Stuart’s murder, but I certainly question why anyone would continue to support Barrymore, given his disgraceful behaviour.

The likes of Fiona Phillips, Alex Belfield, Steve Allen equally need to take a long, hard look at themselves. Shame on the lot of them.

The scene of the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock on 31st March 2001: Michael Barrymore’s then home, 4 Beaumont Park Drive, Roydon, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5HB. The property was most recently sold for £1.33 million in 2017 whilst Barrymore had paid £392,500 for it in 1998 and was forced to sell it for £802,000 in 2005 to cover costs related to his bankruptcy.

April 4, 2022
Vicky Vanishes – Lady Victoria Hervey Quits Twitter

Party pest and piffle peddling pillock Lady Victoria Hervey vanishes from Twitter; the mouthy moron likes to criticise others, yet clearly can’t take criticism herself

First, earlier this month, in spite of having more front than Harrods and a mouth larger than Russia, prattling pillock and daughter of a convicted thief Lady Victoria Hervey blocked The Steeple Times on Twitter.

Clearly incapable of taking criticism on the chin, in spite of happily taking media money to peddle piffle about Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, cowardy custard Lady Victoria has now gone further and closed down her Twitter account completely. She did so after being confronted by The Mail on Sunday’s Charlotte Griffiths about her pestering the crusading author of Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography Kirby Sommers on the social media platform.

Responding to a request from Griffiths about why she had contacted Sommers “seeking dirt” on Virginia Giuffre, ‘Lady Herpes’ abruptly answered: “Mistook her for someone else. I never use Twitter. Had an intern do it, hence all the typos. I don’t write like that.” Now, Vicky dear: Please try pulling the other one; next!

To purchase a copy of ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ by crusading author Kirby Sommers, click here.

Lady Victoria Hervey blocked ‘The Steeple Times’ account and that of Matthew Steeples on Twitter also in early February 2022. If asked, she’d probably claim that she got her no doubt unpaid intern to have done that for her too.

By Sunday 20th February, the @Thebritishladyv Twitter account appeared with the message: “This account doesn’t exist.” No doubt the aristoprat capable of leaving a trail of debts amounting to £350,000 when her Knightsbridge knicker flogging boutique went under, got her intern – if he or she actually exists – to do the closing down for her.

https://twitter.com/KirbySommers/status/1493201393439719429

On 14^th February, Kirby Sommers shared the begging letter sent to her by Lady Victoria Hervey on her Twitter feed. In it, the birdbrained blonde asked: “Wondering if you have any diet [sic] for me on Maria or Viginia.” She clearly meant “dirt,” but yet again illustrated that she most definitely should never enter a spelling bee contest.

Elsewhere on Instagram (a technological medium she seems capable of using herself apparently), illustrating that she remains in cahoots with Ghislaine Maxwell’s PR team the lover of threesomes included a link to Jay Beecher’s TheMaxwellFiles.com – a website filled with utter gibberish about the case against ‘The Bouncing Czech’s’ deviant daughter. She also referenced a story from ‘The Mail on Sunday’ by Sharon Churcher – the journalist who first revealed the picture of Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell and Virginia Roberts to the world in February 2011 – and aside from suggesting “[she’s] lucky it’s 2022 or she would be hung for TREASON” added: “These people are the bottom feeder gutter rats.”

In other Instagram story posts, the “toff you’ll never see on ‘Mastermind’” demanded that Ghislaine Maxwell be released “until her new trial date” and claimed that the mucky madam sex trafficker “isn’t safe” in the Metropolitan Detention Center. The one-time lover of both Prince Andrew allegedly and Jeffrey Epstein definitely awaits sentencing on 28th June 2022 and aside from being monitored continually, has the luxury of a floor of the prison to herself and all sorts of privileges. The only thing this wicked criminal hasn’t got is Krug on tap. Diddums.

In June 2020, further illustrating the vileness of her tongue, Lady Victoria – who has been known also to come out with clangers including “I’m not stupid. I’m not a dumb model” and “[I aim to become] the next Kate Winslet – but with class” – was deservedly lambasted after she attacked the Black Lives Movement in spite of her own ancestors having been abolitionists. After ‘The Steeple Times’ first and the ‘Mail on Sunday’ subsequently named and shamed her, she deleted her clearly highly offensive Intagram post, but it remains clear that she still doesn’t realise what an utter berk she truly is.

February 20, 2022
Nowt To Say Mr Barrymore?

Michael Barrymore’s decision to say nowt about the latest developments in the case of the murder of Stuart Lubbock sums him up as an utterly coward cretin

Michael Barrymore likes pretending to be Hitler and rolling around on the floor with drunken racist bigots like Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben. He also once worshipped the paedophile and abuser of dead bodies Sir Jimmy Savile, but the one thing he’s got nowt to say about is the rape and murder that occurred at his very own home on 31^st March 2001.

Yesterday, after being approached for comment by the Mirror about the latest developments in the case of the sadistic killing of Stuart Lubbock at his Roydon, Essex bungalow, Barrymore arrogantly responded: “It’s a terribly sad situation for everybody. I have nothing to say at the moment.”

Today, yet again, we join those reminding this cretinous creep that he invited at least eight people to his residence for a drug fest on that fateful night. One of them was shockingly slayed and he himself ran away before the police even arrived. Michael Barrymore deserves nothing other than repeated shaming whilst his innocent victim’s family still require justice.

A House of Horror – Michael Barrymore’s naff bungalow, 4 Beaumont Park Drive, Roydon, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5HB – where at least two of those he’d invited raped, abused and murdered Stuart Lubbock on 31st March 2001 – was sold for £1.33 million in 2017. Barrymore had paid £392,500 for it in 1998 and was forced to sell it for £802,000 in 2005 to cover costs related to his bankruptcy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1wRAvqXOos&t=1s

September 2, 2021
Man-Up Michael Barrymore

As Essex Police announce they will not charge the 50-year-old arrested for the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock, Matthew Steeples joins those demanding Michael Barrymore finally man-up and tell the truth

After announcing they will not be charging the 50-year-old arrested in March on suspicion of the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock at the home of the disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore, Essex Police’s Detective Chief Superintedent Lucy Morris expressed that “this news was a huge personal disappointment to all detectives involved in this case.”

Claiming they “had [found] insufficient evidence to reach the level where there is a chance of a successful prosecution,” Morris added: “We have tried our best. We will continue to try our best.”

Frankly, as the victim’s father Terry Lubbock faces death from terminal cancer, this development yet again brings to light the fact of the matter. Nine people were present at the Roydon, Essex bungalow on the night of the murder. One of them died and they died at the hands of one of the five other men present. It is jolly well time that the reprehensible lot of them told the truth and it is jolly well time for justice for Stuart Lubbock.

Michael Barrymore’s continued attempts to rebuild his career without telling what he really knows about what he knows about what went on at his home on 31st March 2001 before he then fled the property before police arrived provides only indication of his sheer arrogance and audacity.

The scene of the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock on 31st March 2001: Michael Barrymore’s then home, 4 Beaumont Park Drive, Roydon, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5HB.

Stuart Lubbock’s ex-wife, Sue Homan, tweeted yesterday: “I have no words atm, apart from gutted, absolutely gutted. But, more determined then [sic] ever. If anything, I hope this gets a lot of press coverage. Someone out there has answers, and needs to come forward.”

Justice for Stuart Lubbock – The people who need to tell the truth about what happened at Michael Barrymore’s home on 31^st March 2001

Michael Parker (AKA Michael Barrymore) – Allegedly loudly said: “I need a f**k” in a taxi as he left the Millennium Nightclub to return to his home, the scene of the death of Stuart Lubbock. Barrymore later lied to a coroner’s court about facilitating drug taking at his house on the night in question also.

Barrymore claimed to have been first to have discovered the body of Stuart Lubbock at 5.45am, called his manager Mike Brown before the ambulance arrived and then left the premises. He admits that was “wrong” and also bizarrely told Piers Morgan that in spite of “knowing others were hiding secrets about what happened to Mr. Lubbock” that “I am not going to say their names. I just hope they are brave enough to come forward one day.”

Mike Brown – Agent of Michael Barrymore. Called to the property before emergency services arrived.

Kelly Campbell – Had met Michael Barrymore for the first time on the night of the incident. Claimed not to have been aware of what happened.

James Futters (sometimes spelt ‘Futers’) – A paper boy turned chef. Described as “a local from the village” and a “friend and neighbour of Barrymore.” Claimed to have been the first to discover the body with Simon Shaw and stated: “[It was not] Michael Barrymore and not Jonathan Kenney [who found him].” Later, of him the Evening Standard reported: “Barrymore offered James Futters a white powder on his finger saying: ‘Do you want to try this?’ Mr Futters told the inquest that he leaned forward and licked the powder.”

Claire Jones – Then aged 17. Had met Michael Barrymore for the first time on the night of the incident. Claimed not to have been aware of what happened but told the police that she “saw Barrymore rummaging through drawers and changing his clothes before police arrived. When he left the house, he had a ‘bundle of material’ under his arm,” according to the Evening Standard. “She added: ‘Jonathan (Kenney) was rushing through the bungalow before the ambulance and police arrived. I got the impression he was hiding something.’”

Jonathan Kenney – Estate agent, drag queen and Michael Barrymore’s then lover; later arrested on suspicion of murder but never charged; known for having a “record of violence.” Claimed to have been the first to have discovered the body and is now aged 50.

Justin Merritt – A dustman from Essex. Later arrested on suspicion of murder but never charged. Later paid £30,000 by the News of the World for an interview in which he stated Barrymore had “rubbed cocaine on Stuart Lubbock’s lips shortly before he died.”

Kylie Merritt – Sister of Justin Merritt. She also alleged Barrymore “rubbed cocaine on Stuart Lubbock’s lips shortly before he died” (curiously in the wake of her brother selling his account of the night).

Simon Shaw – Described as “a local from the village.” Michael Barrymore supposedly “ran off” to Mr. Shaw’s house to “buy himself thinking time [for two hours] before he was questioned by the police [at 7.49am].”

In addition, others, who’ve never been identified could also have possibly been present. If they were, they should come forward or be named by those listed above.

August 20, 2021
Down The Drain McCann

More money goes down the drain in the Madeleine McCann case on top of the £13.5 million of British taxpayer wonga chucked away on absolutely no results

This morning – continuing the pointless pattern of the Mirror and MailOnline to “note nothing new” in the case of ‘disappeared’ Madeleine McCann we highlighted last week – The Sun shared an “exclusive” about the investigation that frankly wasn’t worthy of a single column inch.

After beginning with the bashfully bold headline “Madeleine McCann’s parents to find out this year if they’ve won legal battle against ex-cop” Goncalo Amaral – whom currently is owed a “six-figure sum” believed to be circa £750,000 by Gerry and Kate McCann after he beat them in court in February 2017 – the paper then concluded without an actual “when” and the non-news that “the judges will now give a verdict by the end of the year.”

Of this diatribe of drivel, one could say: “Thanks for that,” but more realistically anyone rational would ask of The Sun instead: “Couldn’t you have asked your contributor to instead go looking for a missing person where there is a genuine chance of that person actually being found?”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Mirror – a red-top reliable for prattling on about “non-news” about a situation that could have been avoided perhaps if two doctors hadn’t left their toddlers unattended so they could live it up in a restaurant with their mates – shared that the prosecution team that named Christian Brueckner (AKA ‘Christian B’) exactly one year ago just as the British government began their ‘coronavirus distraction technique,’ have actually not spoken to Gerry and Kate McCann once during the ensuing period.

Asked if they had genuinely made any progress in the case, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters “angrily hit back at critics” and illustrated the weakness of his work in declaring: “I don’t care who believes what… We are missing important important information. We want no stone unturned. Whether there will be an indictment in the end, I cannot foresee at the moment.”

The Mirror concluded: “Brueckner, serving seven years for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia, has not been interviewed,” whilst elsewhere the Daily Record added Wolters pathetically offered: “Our appeal for witnesses still stands.” We respond: “Where on earth do you think these people are given the millions already offered in rewards that have never been claimed?”

Clearly, on top of the £13.5 million of British taxpayer money wasted on this case already, that’s another chunk of change down the drain whilst other families of missing people shamefully get little to no help at all. Enough is enough; it is time to close down the investigation into ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann.

Kate McCann – a woman who went running, played tennis and dined on chicken and mushroom risotto and egg and watercress salads washed down with strawberry vodka with the paedophile Sir Clement Freud in the days after her ‘disappeared’ – has a clear touch of the former Meghan Markle about her. Like ‘MeGain,’ whom banged on that “not many people have asked if I’m OK,” Mrs McCann said in 2011: “Officers walked past us as if we weren’t there. Nobody asked how we were doing, whether we were okay. Our child had been stolen and I felt as if I didn’t exist.”

Kate #McCann was full of BRUISES next day according to Jane tanner, police statement…

PURPLE bruises take 2 days to develop.

IT'S OBVIOUS!!!!!!! Something horrible happened to that family at least 1 DAY before the ALARM 🚨 #McCanns pic.twitter.com/Caonk97x7p
— Madeleine Case Tweets🌐 (@McCannCaseTweet) March 8, 2018

Elsewhere on social media this weekend, the matter of Kate McCann being photographed with bruises on her wrists in the days after her daughter disappeared was again discussed. This tweet from 2018 was once again referenced.

Christian Brueckner (AKA ‘Christian B’, pictured left with his ex-girlfriend Naskcije Miftari) was brought to public attention just as the British government began to suffer “very bad news days” at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year. The narrative of him being the evil, paedophile suited Boris Johnson’s government a treat as it helped shift the headlines – for a period – away from their appalling handling of initial lockdowns. This weekend, equally, Johnson has managed to do something similar by marrying his latest ‘baby mama’ Carrie Symonds and in doing so, cynics quite correctly argue that he has used the ‘distraction technique’ to get his bad week courtesy of Dominic Cummings off the front pages. Unsurprisingly, social media manipulated imagery from the wedding by using images such as those pictured (centre and right).

In December 2017, when £11 million of British taxpayers’ money had been spent towards the search for ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann, 86% of viewers of ITV1’s ‘Loose Women’ said the public purse should cease to fund the investigation. Now, in May 2021, with that sum at £13.5 million (aside from the millions in private money also), it is time to allocate resources to the search for missing people who actually can be found, we would suggest.

May 31, 2021
Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples

‘The Steeple Times’s’ Matthew Steeples to answer questions live during 2-hour YouTube premiere of his ‘Maxwell, McCann & Menendez’ interview with Shaun Attwood on Saturday 8^th May

Filmed late last month, a 2 hour, 15-minute interview between Shaun Attwood of Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel and Matthew Steeples of The Steeple Times will premiere on YouTube tomorrow, Saturday 8^th May 2021 at 10am.

Aside from discussing primarily Ghislaine Maxwell’s incarceration and forthcoming trial and recent developments in the case of the 2001 murder of Stuart Lubbock at the Roydon, Essex bungalow belonging to the since deservedly disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore, Steeples and Attwood delve into the conviction of Jeremy Bamber, the 2007 ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann and the ongoing imprisonment of the parental abuse victim Menendez brothers in California.

Touching also on other topics including the paedophile Rolf Harris and the potentially unsafe conviction of Mark Alexander, a man campaigning with the support of Terry Waite CBE to clear his name in connection with the 2010 murder of his decidedly deviant father in Buckinghamshire, Steeples comments of the interview:

“I have followed Shaun Attwood’s honest to its core YouTube channel – which most deservedly already has 669,000 subscribers – for some time. For me, what piqued my interest was when Attwood got someone to answer the door at Ghislaine Maxwell’s Kinnerton Street mews house in September 2019 and in doing so proved that the setting of that infamous photograph with Prince Andrew with his ‘chubby fingers’ around Virginia Roberts remained still in-situ.”

“Attwood’s interviews with abuse victims such as The Lost Boys actor Corey Feldman and crusading author Kirby Sommers have repeatedly allowed viewers to be presented with previously unheard narratives about truly shocking cases. His attention to detail and dedication to presenting facts rather than gossip is impressive and his own experiences in the justice system clearly have clearly guided his ability to understand what lies beyond what is fed to the public by the mainstream media.”

“It was thus an honour and a pleasure to be interviewed by a man whose own past plainly has resulted in a quest for a juster justice system and I hope viewers will gain some insights into angles about cases that remain very much of the moment when watching tomorrow.”

“I will be present in the ‘live chat’ on the YouTube channel on Saturday 8^th May 2021 between 10am and 12:15pm and look forward to exploring the thoughts of viewers regarding the cases that Shaun Attwood and I discussed.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTl_J-McDJk&list=PLPT_cCpNMvT50d_7cJ55ciKoZEY8q_YPt&index=4
Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – The full podcast will be available to view tomorrow, Saturday 8^th May 2021, via YouTube from 10am. A live Q&A with Matthew Steeples will be available during from 10am to 12:15pm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqCX44DGWk
Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – A trailer for the forthcoming show can be viewed online before then.

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “As Terry Lubbock faces certain death from terminal cancer, it is right that finally Essex Police are making progress in the investigation into his son’s rape and murder on 10th March 2001,” observes Matthew Steeples. Pictured: Michael Barrymore rolling around on the floor drunk with convicted racist bigot Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben (left) and Terry Lubbock bed-bound next to a picture of his late son, Stuart, as he begs the others present at Barrymore’s pool party to finally tell the truth about what happened that fateful night.

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured left on a throne in Buckingham Palace), if she had half a brain, would now seek a plea bargain,” argues Matthew Steeples. “Instead, because she’s so arrogant, this mendacious minx and all-round mucky madam will likely continue to keep quiet about what really went on with her, her ‘bestie’ Prince Andrew and his ‘Lolita Express club coat’ wearing chum, the now deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.”

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “I believe it is correct that the victims of parental abuse Erik and Lyle Menendez were finally able to be brought together again after 22 years of incarceration without a sight of one another in February 2018,” shares Matthew Steeples. “I also believe that the fine work of crusading individuals including the journalist Robert Rand (pictured left with Lyle Menendez) and the juror in one of the cases, Hazel Thornton, will help them on a path to what they deserve given the truth of what they endured at the hands of their plainly wicked parents: Freedom.”

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “I will forever continue to question why the case of ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann has been allocated nigh on £13 million in public money,” comments Matthew Steeples. “Why don’t the families of other missing people, such as Martin Allen, Luke Durbin and Ben Needham get that level of state-funded assistance also?” Pictured: Kate McCann with then Home Secretary Theresa May MP at a party in Downing Street, London hosted by the latter for associates of the former in July 2016.

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Rolf Harris (pictured right) may have served his time,” shares Matthew Steeples, “but the legacy of him and the links of this clearly evil ex-public figure to other high profile sexual abusers such as the ex-TV anchor Stuart Hall (pictured left with Prince Edward dressed as a ‘Joker’) deserves to continue to be highlighted.”

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Doubts about so much of the evidence submitted by Essex Police in the case of Jeremy Bamber make me believe that his conviction for the murders at White House Farm deserves at the very least reinvestigation,” shares Matthew Steeples. Speaking of his “fresh hope” for a referral to the Court of Appeal in March 2021, Bamber himself stated: “The lack of disclosure by Essex Police has been at the heart of my case from the outset, and is still a feature today in an attempt by the Essex Police to maintain my wrongful conviction. I feel confident however that the CCRC will do their utmost to achieve disclosure of vital material in order to obtain my justice.”

Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “‘Could Mark Alexander have actually been wrongly convicted of the murder of his father Samuel Alexander?’ is a question I think deserves exploring,” shares Matthew Steeples. Speaking of the case, greatly respected humanitarian Terry Waite CBE commented: “I am disturbed by the conviction of Mark as I find it difficult to believe that a complete forensic examination was conducted before the jury found him guilty by a majority verdict. It was pointed out by the judge in his summing-up that the evidence was circumstantial, but even so he was convicted and sentenced. A forensic investigation of the site was conducted by a chartered engineer and chartered geologist in 2017. This examination ought to have been conducted before the trial, but for reasons unknown to me it was not. Given that the site had been excavated by the police when searching for the body and afterwards refilled it was not possible for the expert to be totally certain about the dates when the different levels of concrete were laid. However, his conclusions, which are fully recorded in his report, suggest that the top level of concrete could not have been laid by Mark Alexander as he was not in that location at that time and can prove this. The report raises in my mind a reasonable doubt as to the safety of this conviction.”

May 7, 2021
Three of the Best – Things to Get You Through Lockdown

Matthew Steeples highlights three things that are keeping him going through coronavirus lockdown living (aside from not running out of gin)

Having found myself ensconced in East Anglia for five weeks now –never did I imagine myself staying in a rural place so long – and having not actually got into a car or visited a town in that period, I busy my days reading, writing and walking a bit. It’s been especially strange not to physically see friends and I can’t say I’ve fathomed ‘House Party,’ but my telephone device has certainly seen more Bob Hoskins-esque “It’s Good To Talk” action than ever before.

Whilst most people will tell you Netflix has been their best source of entertainment during this period and I will most certainly join them in commending ‘binge watching’ Ozark, I’ve found time to do things that I’ve always put-off such as clear out my iPhone’s address book and chuck out paperwork I’m never going to actually get round to dealing with. It’s been a time to read and reflect and an opportunity to listen to music a little more often and here follows a few other ‘lockdown discoveries’ of mine that you might find useful:

Harvey Nichols

Nobody would imagine that Patsy and Edina’s favourite shop, Harvey Nichols, would be the bargain food and drink store of the lockdown, but given they don’t charge for next-day delivery wherever you are in the UK and there’s no minimum spend, here is an unbeatable service. Unlike some greedy online booze retailers (some of whom have actually increased their prices and introduced preposterously high delivery charges to coincide with us all being stuck at home), you can get a bottle of the heather-hinted, 43% ABV Edinburgh Gin for just £32, a jar of highly addictive ginger and chilli jam for £3.95 or an utterly delicious asparagus and shrimp risotto that feeds two for just £5.95. Add half a glass of white wine and Bob’s Your Uncle and Fanny’s Your Aunt.

Podcasts and Radio Plays

I’ve become addicted to true crime podcasts such as Murder Mile (in spite of the most recent one I listened to being about the appalling murder of my late friend Robert Troyan in Mount Street Mayfair in 2013) in the last weeks. An especially gritty and somewhat grim example is The Clearing, an eight-episode serialisation based on the crimes of the American serial killer Ed Edwards (AKA ‘Wayne’ Edwards) that has been lauded by the Guardian as “an immense achievement.”

Equally gripping, if you haven’t heard it already (I’m listening to it for a second time), is BBC Radio 4’s rerun of GF Newman’s The Corrupted. Featuring a fictional dodgy MP interacting with real political figures from the past including Margaret Thatcher and Douglas Hurd, here is something for political geeks to get their teeth into before the ‘B-word’ again raises its ugly head once coronavirus fades into the background.

‘The Quiz’ on Facebook

Some of us were already playing before orders to stay indoors arrived, but the ‘Quiz Planet’ app on Facebook has proved a charming way to interact with friends from near and afar. Some of the questions do border on the inane and others have induced a Major Charles Ingram-esque cough on my part, but if you want to while away the hours, do sign up and if you want someone to thrash, try challenging me.

And Then… What’s Next?

Most of all, of course, what will really keep you going through all this is this: A day will soon come when you’ll again be eating, drinking and being merry with your nearest and dearest at your very favourite establishment. Whether you fancy fish and chips or a bottle of Chablis (or both), it’ll come and it’ll come not a moment too soon.

For now, do heed the words of the late Mr Hoskins: “What men call chatter, really does matter. It’s about being a friend. Having the time to listen. It’s what makes the world goes round.” Call a friend or, if you’re not a technophobe like me, ‘give’ them a Zoom.

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April 24, 2020
Shame on Michael Barrymore

Michael Barrymore belittles the father of the late Stuart Lubbock by taking to Instagram to join those mocking the new investigation into the murder as “parasites”

Michael Barrymore is a man with no heart. Aside from no doubt encouraging Twitter to suspended Terry Lubbock, the father of the man who died in his swimming pool, the disgraced entertainer has now taken to Instagram to like comments attacking a Channel 4 programme about the matter as “parasites.”

Barrymore – who happily accepted £60,000 to appear on Piers Morgan and admit that he knows more about what happened that night than he has ever told police, but would not agree to face Terry Lubbock in person – should be utterly ashamed of himself.

A father of two it is now believed was murdered on 31^st March 2002 at this ghastly individual’s home. At least nine people were present including the victim, Stuart Lubbock, and Barrymore, in the most cowardly fashion, fled the scene before the police arrived. It is time he stopped behaving so abhorrently and it is time he told the truth.

Barrymore: The Body in the Pool airs on Thursday 6^th February at 9pm on Channel 4.

Pictured top: Disgraced entertainer Michael Barrymore rolling around on the floor with the disgraced convicted racist Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV8UnR8x3vM

February 4, 2020
Michael Barrymore – It’s Time For Answers

Stuart Lubbock was MURDERED claims new detective investigating his death in Michael Barrymore’s swimming pool; his father, meanwhile, has his Twitter account suspended

This Thursday on Channel 4 at 9pm, a new documentary will air about the death of Stuart Lubbock on 31^st March 2001 in a swimming pool at the home of the since rightly disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore.

Barrymore: The Body in the Pool will feature new allegations from a police detective, DCI Stephen Jennings, that Lubbock was raped and deliberately murdered and thus will set in motion a new investigation into the case of a man found with severe anal injuries.

As we reported in September 2019, many questions remain unanswered in this case and of the nine present that night, according to Barrymore – a man disgustingly paid £60,000 for an interview with Piers Morgan in which he declared as much himself – honesty has never been their policy.

Stuart Lubbock – A divorced father of two and a man most definitely an innocent victim of a crime most ghastly at the home of the master of deception that is Michael Barrymore. Why, one asks, is the former entertainer willing to go back on TV at a time when he refuses to meet face to face with the father of someone who died at his home?

An aerial shot of the scene of the CRIME that shows the very swimming pool where Stuart Lubbock died. In the aftermath Barrymore claimed he could not swim. His now late ex-wife, Cheryl, later proved otherwise.

It is an outrage that Terry Lubbock has been suspended by Twitter for allegedly “violating” their “rules” just as, finally, a real investigation into his son’s death has begun.

Speaking to the Daily Star and declaring he will be making a “fresh appeal for people to step forward to help find Stuart Lubbock’s killer,” DCI Jennings stated:

“I believe very much that Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered that night. he scene was secured but not to the standard that we would expect, hence the reason that people were allowed back in there, and we know items have now gone missing. After we’d managed to photograph the scene, items have gone missing and we’ve never seized them.”

An unnamed spokesman for Essex Police added:

“In the aftermath of Stuart’s death on March 31 2001, a forensic assessment was carried out of the scene at the house in Roydon over the proceeding days. This included the capturing of photographs and video of the scene.”

“During that process two items recorded as being within the scene – namely a thermometer and pool door handle – went missing.”

“As these items have never been recovered and forensically tested their evidential importance is not known and it cannot be ruled out that they were used to inflict injuries upon Stuart.”

Elsewhere on Twitter this morning, Stuart Lubbock’s father, Terry, has bizarrely had his account suspended. We say shame on Michael Barrymore – who cowardly fled the scene before police arrived to investigate the death – for likely having caused this occurrence.

Pictured top: Most suitable bedfellows – Michael Barrymore rolling around drunk on the floor with the convicted racist and all-round cretin Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=x5UVYnU7DSQ&feature=emb_logo

February 2, 2020
Menendez Reunited

Brothers and victims of parental abuse Erik and Lyle Menendez to be rightly reunited in prison after 22 years apart

Last autumn’s Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders brought renewed interest in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers jailed for life without parole in 1996 for the murder of their parents despite compelling evidence of their having been subject to appalling abuse by the very people meant to protect them.

Yesterday, after 22 years of incarceration without sight of one another, it was announced that the brothers would finally be placed in the same jail “shortly.”

Of this positive news for a duo who undoubtedly received far too harsh a sentence, Hazel Thornton, a juror at the first trial of Erik Menendez and the author of Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror, exclusively told The Steeple Times:

“Erik and Lyle were never a danger to anyone besides the parents who terrorised them all their lives. Sending them to separate prisons without even the privilege of speaking to one another for 22 years was just plain cruelty. There are lots of brothers in prison together. I am delighted that they will be reunited. For anyone who’s counting, they’ve now been incarcerated for 28 years. But miracles do happen!”

Elsewhere on Facebook on Wednesday, Lyle Menendez himself commented:

“I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines’ Day. I adore my wife today more than I ever have after so many years together. She has been with me throughout this long journey and will be as we embark on a new one.”

“As most of you know, my brother and I have been separated for almost 22 years – captured so tragically on Law & Order. We have been working for the past 6 years to get the Corrections Department to place us together. I have requested to be transferred to San Diego to be with Erik. It has been a long torturous ordeal but never did I feel hopeless.”

“I am very grateful to announce that on Monday the request was finally granted. Erik and I will be reunited in the very near future. We will keep you posted!”

“I would like to thank the huge number of people across the country who felt strongly that my brother and I should be together and took the time to pray for that result and wish us well.”

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February 15, 2018