What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight. A True Crime Podcast

Michael Barrymore: What Happened to Stuart Lubbock

What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight. A True Crime Podcast

Show Notes

☕ SUPPORT THE SHOW If you enjoy What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight and would like to support the work that goes into researching and producing the podcast, you can support the show through Buy Me a Coffee. buymeacoffee.com/Whattheyhidepod MICHAEL BARRYMORE: WHAT HAPPENED TO STUART LUBBOCK? On the night of 30 March 2001, 31-year-old father Stuart Lubbock went out for an ordinary Friday night in Harlow, Essex. Before the night was over, he had met one of the most famous entertainers in Britain. Michael Barrymore. Hours later, Stuart was found unresponsive in the swimming pool at Barrymore’s home in Roydon. He would never regain consciousness. What initially appeared to be a tragic drowning quickly became something far more complicated when the examination of Stuart’s body revealed serious injuries. There had been nine people at the house. What followed was an investigation that would stretch across decades — involving conflicting accounts, lost forensic opportunities, an inquest, arrests, renewed investigations and questions that refused to disappear. At the centre of it all was Stuart’s father, Terry Lubbock. For twenty years, Terry fought relentlessly to discover what had happened to his son, challenging the original investigation and refusing to allow Stuart’s death to become simply another celebrity scandal. Michael Barrymore has consistently denied involvement in Stuart’s injuries or death and has never been charged with causing his death. More than twenty-five years later, no one has ever been convicted of causing Stuart’s death. What happened to Stuart Lubbock? ⚠️ CONTENT WARNING This episode contains discussion of death, serious injuries, alleged sexual assault, alcohol and illegal drug use. Listener discretion is advised. 🎧 If you enjoy the podcast, please follow or subscribe, leave a rating or review, and share the episode with somebody who enjoys true crime. Every share helps the show reach new listeners. 📧 Contact: [email protected] SOURCES • Essex Police • Independent Police Complaints Commission • Court of Appeal — Parker v Chief Constable of Essex Police • Contemporary BBC, ITV and Channel 4 reporting • Contemporary national newspaper coverage and inquest reporting This episode is based on publicly available reporting, official findings and court records. Allegations and disputed accounts are identified as such. No person discussed in this episode should be considered responsible for a criminal offence unless established through the appropriate legal process. What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight Because sometimes the truth isn’t hidden. It’s hiding in plain sight. Music by MUBERT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight. A True Crime Podcast

Oct 20, 2026

Silk Road: Ross Ulbricht and the Dark Web Drug Empire In 2011, a young American named Ross Ulbricht created a secret online marketplace that would change the criminal underworld forever. Its name was Silk Road. Hidden within the dark web, the website allowed thousands of people to buy and sell illegal drugs using Bitcoin, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions. But behind the anonymous username Dread Pirate Roberts, something far darker was unfolding. Alleged murder-for-hire plots. Stolen cryptocurrency. Corrupt federal agents. And an international investigation that would eventually lead to a dramatic arrest inside a San Francisco public library. In 2015, Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison. Then, in January 2025, President Donald Trump granted him a full and unconditional pardon. In this episode of What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight, we investigate the rise and fall of Silk Road, the extraordinary evidence against its creator, and the controversy surrounding his punishment and release. Was Ross Ulbricht a visionary who went too far, or a criminal mastermind who knew exactly what he was doing? Content Warning This episode contains discussions of illegal drug trafficking, fatal overdoses, threats of violence and alleged murder-for-hire arrangements. Ulbricht was not convicted of murder-for-hire, and investigators found no evidence that the alleged contracted killings occurred. Support What They Hide If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show. Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/Whattheyhidepod Try Audible FREE for 30 days: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/arya/mlp?ref_=null&_encoding=UTF8&tag=whattheyhide2-21&purchaseType=MTRIAL&SHOPPING_PORTAL_MODE=AUGMENTED Affiliate disclosure: This is an affiliate link. If you sign up through it, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Trial eligibility and terms apply. Every follow, review, share and contribution helps this independent true-crime podcast grow. Research and Sources FBI — Ross Ulbricht’s Laptop https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifacts/ross-william-ulbrichts-laptop US Department of Justice — Silk Road Conviction https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ross-ulbricht-creator-and-owner-silk-road-website-found-guilty-manhattan-federal-court US Department of Justice — Life Sentence https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-manhattan-federal-court-life-prison US Department of Justice — Official Presidential Pardon, January 2025 https://www.justice.gov/pardon/media/1386096/dl?inline= Join the Conversation Do you believe Ross Ulbricht deserved a life sentence? Was the presidential pardon justified? Share your thoughts, and don’t forget to follow What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight for more extraordinary true-crime investigations. Some crimes are hidden in plain sight. Others are hidden behind a screen. #TrueCrime #SilkRoad #RossUlbricht #DarkWeb #DreadPirateRoberts #Bitcoin #WhatTheyHide Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 11, 2026

Enjoying What They Hide? You can also find the podcast on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel and help this independent true-crime show reach its next milestone of 150 subscribers. ❤️

Oct 4, 2026

Enjoying What They Hide? You can also find the podcast on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel and help this independent true-crime show reach its next milestone of 150 subscribers. ❤️

Sep 30, 2026

Enjoying What They Hide? You can also find the podcast on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel and help this independent true-crime show reach its next milestone of 150 subscribers. ❤️

Sep 27, 2026

JonBenét Ramsey: Who Killed the Child Beauty Queen? On the morning after Christmas 1996, Patsy Ramsey found a ransom note inside her family’s Boulder, Colorado home. Her six-year-old daughter, JonBenét Ramsey, was missing. Hours later, JonBenét wasn’t found outside the house. She was found inside it — dead in a basement room. Almost thirty years later, her murder remains unsolved. In this episode of What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight, we go back through one of the most scrutinised murder investigations in modern American history and separate the evidence from the mythology that has grown around it. We examine the extraordinary ransom note, the crime scene, the pineapple, the basement window, Lou Smit’s intruder theory, the secret grand-jury indictments and the DNA evidence that was later used to clear the Ramsey family — before asking whether that DNA can really tell us who killed JonBenét. No sensational accusations. No pretending an unsolved case has been solved. Just the evidence, the competing explanations and the questions that remain nearly three decades later. And a special thank you to listener Hugh Mann, who requested this case. Hugh, I told you I hadn’t forgotten. Still not convinced that’s your real name though. ☕ Support What They Hide: Buy Me a Coffee — check the support link in the show profile/show notes. http://buymeacoffee.com/Whattheyhidepod 🎧 Try Audible free for 30 days: Audible UK – 30-day free trial⁠ https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/arya/mlp?ref_=null&_encoding=UTF8&tag=whattheyhide2-21&purchaseType=MTRIAL&SHOPPING_PORTAL_MODE=AUGMENTED Affiliate disclosure: The Audible link is an Amazon Associates affiliate link. If you sign up through it, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. It helps support What They Hide. ⭐ If you enjoyed the episode, follow the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share it with another true-crime weirdo. It makes a massive difference to an independent show. What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight Content warning: This episode discusses the murder of a child, including details of her injuries and allegations of sexual assault.

See all episodes →