In February, the father of the man found raped and killed at Michael Barrymore’s home told the TV star “to put your hands up to what happened” as police issued a £20,000 reward for information.
Terry Lubbuck, 75, from Harlow, made the plea for Barrymore break his silence as Essex Police revealed it has launched a fresh investigation into his son’s serious sexual assault and death.
Stuart, 31, was found dead in Barrymore’s pool in Roydon on March 31, 2001, and the death was explored in a new Channel 4 documentary broadcast that month. Mr Barrymore did not comment.
As cold weather set in, figures showed how The Princess Alexandra Hospital was coping with winter pressures.
In the week from January 27 to February 2, 385 patients were brought by ambulance to A&E.
Over the week, 273 arrivals waited 30 minutes or more to be transferred to the emergency department – despite NHS guidelines saying all patients should be transferred within 15 minutes. Of these, 14 patients waited an hour or longer.
General and acute wards at the trust were 93.5 per cent full on average – above the 85 per cent rate the British Medical Association guidelines.
In East London, a council leader called for an end to the “cycle of violence” following two stabbings.
The weekend of violence came just weeks after three men were stabbed to death in Seven Kings.
At about 3.45pm on Saturday, February 8 a man, believed to be 35, was stabbed at a home in The Drive, Ilford.
Later that evening, police were called to reports of two males suffering stab injuries in Kinfauns Road, Ilford.
Cllr Jas Athwal, leader of Redbridge Council, took to Twitter to call for government support.
He said: “Over the weekend more senseless violence took place in incidents in Ilford. This cycle of violence cannot continue. We are facing unprecedented levels of knife crime on our streets. The Government must act now to prevent further pain and suffering."
And as the month ended a school was closed as precautionary measure after a teacher returned from Italy, where there had been an outbreak of coronavirus.
William Martin C of E Junior Infant and Nursery School in Tawneys Road, Harlow, was closed on February 26 for a ‘deep clean’.
The teacher is said to not be displaying any symptoms of Covid-19.
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