A man has been jailed for four years for the over the death of an Emmerdale star on Sunday 26 January 2025. Michael Barron, 38, died after going into cardiac arrest following a lack of oxygen to the brain after being choked during a sex game. The budding actor, who had also appeared in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, met his killer Josh Baxter on dating app Grindr. Baxter had invited him to his Manchester home after the pair discussed rough sex. They had established they were both after a more extreme experience.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard Barron has said he liked to be "tied, gagged, hooded, totally helpless" and expressed a liking for "pain and torture". Upon meeting, Baxter had tied Barron up with rope and suffocated him for at least 30 minutes. Judge Tina Landale convicted him of intentional strangulation or suffocation and unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm but cleared him of manslaughter.
In his defence, Baxter had claimed the injury was accidental and insisted the pair, who were both part of a community of people into kinky sex or BDSM (bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; and sadism and masochism). engaged in “consensual acts”.
"I never saw it as a dangerous activity. I have never hurt someone before, doing choking," he told the court.
However, the court heard evidence that Baxter had been warned by someone else about the dangers of choking around a month before Barron's tragic death. Following this revelation, he then carried out a web search, which confirmed the risks to him.
Sentencing him Judge Landale said: "You decided to ignore those warnings and during your trial in evidence you told the jury you still did not consider choking to be dangerous.
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“You encouraged Mr Barron to become extremely drunk. During sexual activity you choked Mr Barron so hard it fractured a bone and cartilage in his neck. You were reckless in doing so."
Barron's mother Mary Power paid a tearful tribute to her son following the hearing. She described him as a “kind, compassionate and very unique" person who "brightened up my world as soon as he entered it".
"A part of me died. Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a child. A part of me died, a part of me I will never get back," she said. She added: "I will never stop loving him. I will never stop missing him."
His sister Lisa also remembered the star, saying his life was "cut short unnecessarily and a future full of dreams left unfinished".
