Barrymore Police Apologise To Dead Man`s Father

A report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the case is due to be published later on Tuesday.

Police have apologised to the father of a man found dead in the swimming pool of entertainer Michael Barrymore eight years ago, ahead of a report into the handling of the case.

Terry Lubbock said Essex Police had told him "mistakes were made" by the force in the investigation of his son Stuart's death, according to the BBC.

A report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the case is due to be published later on Tuesday.

Lubbock, 64, said officers had visited his home in Harlow to personally apologise.

"I'm happy in a way," he told the BBC. "But it's a hollow apology because the perpetrators of my son's murder are still out there.

"If the police had done their job properly in the first place, I believe people would be in the dock charged with his murder."

Lubbock said the officers were unable to reveal the reasons for their apology ahead of the IPCC report's publication.

Stuart Lubbock, 31, was found dead after a party at Barrymore's home in Roydon, Essex in 2001.

Post mortem tests indicated Lubbock had drowned and an inquest recorded an open verdict on his death.

The coroner said he had been found with drugs and alcohol in his system and with serious internal injuries, which suggested he had been the victim of a violent sexual assault.

Barrymore's lawyer has denied all claims his client was involved in the death of the meat factory worker.

Lubbock's father has refused to accept the death was an accident and has campaigned for the case to be re-examined.