One of the stars of ITV reality TV show Up The Jammers has been arrested alongside his husband on multiple sex offence charges, including rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation
A reality TV star and his husband have been charged with multiple sex offence charges, including rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, who first made a name for himself as one of ‘Britain’s first gay dads’ and was due to be in ITV reality show Up The Jammers, was arrested alongside his husband Scott after police raided their Essex home.
Essex Police confirmed that officers from their Serious Crime Directorate carried out searches at multiple properties owned by the couple across the county on 6 May. Following the searches, Essex Police said: “We can now confirm that 57-year-old Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and 32-year-old Scott Drewitt-Barlow, both of Southwood Chase, Danbury, have both been charged with multiple offences including rape, sexual assault, and modern slavery trafficking for sexual exploitation.”
In a statement, Christian Meikle of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to charge Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and Scott Drewitt-Barlow following a police investigation into alleged human trafficking for sexual exploitation and rape.
“Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and Scott Drewitt-Barlow have each been charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation, as well as other sexual offences, including rape. We have worked closely with Essex Police as it carried out its investigation.”
The two are due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court today (May 8) after being held for questioning by detectives. Detective Inspector Lydia George was leading the investigation.
She said: “If anyone has any information they feel ready to share with us, I would ask them to contact us via the Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP) and the investigation team will provide you with any specialist support required.”
Drewitt-Barlow first became known for being one of Britain’s first gay dads, after he and his then-partner Tony had their twins, Saffron and Aspen, in 1999. The couple were able to have same-sex parents on the birth certificates, listed as ‘Parent One’ and ‘Parent Two’ rather than ‘mother and father’.
Each man fathered one of the twins and has never confirmed who fathered whom. Drewitt-Barlow has appeared on multiple daytime television shows to talk about his story.
He was also due to appear in the upcoming ITV reality TV show Up The Jammers. The show was set to focus on the millionaire’s time running the non-league football club Maldon & Tiptree, and was expected to arrive on screens next week. But the show has been dropped amid the police investigation.
Without announcement, ITV4 has replaced the documentary with a wrestling show now placed in the slot for that evening. An ITV Spokesperson told The Mirror: “ITV has decided to remove Up The Jammers from the upcoming schedule. It will no longer be shown on ITV4 or ITVX as previously advertised.”
Drewitt-Barlow and his former husband split in 2019, after it was revealed that Drewitt-Barlow had fallen in love with his daughter Scarlett’s ex-boyfriend Scott Hutchinson.
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
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