An actor who appeared in Emmerdale and Hollyoaks died during ‘extreme’ sex with a date from Grindr.
Michael Barron, 38, played small roles in the ITV and Channel 4 soaps, one of which included a journalist in Emmerdale.
He went to a flat in North Manchester in January 2025 to meet Josh Baxter. The pair had exchanged explicit messages online.
During their encounter, Michael suffered a fractured bone and cartilage in his neck as a result of Baxter strangling him with great force. He also caused Michael to suffocate as he restrained the man face-down on his bed with a rope.
He was on top of Michael for a long time and due to the lack of oxygen to his brain, he suffered cardiac arrest and died.
Baxter left his flat to collect a takeaway afterwards instead of calling 999, and also searched online about his chances of going to prison.
The man has been convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and intentional suffocation, and jailed for four years. He has been acquitted of manslaughter.
Baxter previously denied all the charges against him.
It is said that the last time Michael used his phone was at 5:45pm, making a brief call to a drug dealer.
At 7:56pm, Baxter began to message other Grindr users as Michael remained restrained on the bed. He said he noticed Michael’s face was purple but because he could hear snoring, he didn’t believe the man was ‘in trouble medically’.
At about 9pm, Baxter ordered a takeaway and then collected it from downstairs. He said Michael’s face had turned ‘deep purple’ and began searching online when he realised he had stopped snoring.
After online searches, which included ‘how to tell if someone is alive’ and ‘how to tell if someone is breathing’, Baxter called 999 and was given instructions to perform CPR.
On January 27, Baxter searched ‘if you accidentally kill someone by strangling them during sex do you go to prison’ and ‘is it illegal to f*** someone in their sleep even if you have their consent’.
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Anne Whyte KC, who was prosecuting, told the trial that Baxter had ‘specific sexual interests’.
She also said: ‘He [Michael] was choked at some stage, it would appear as though he was restrained by his wrists and ankles, face down throughout the sexual activity.
‘We know from the police search at the scene that the sex involved the use of a makeshift mask on Mr Barron.’
