A 28-year-old man has been imprisoned for four years after strangling a soap actor during what the court described as an “extreme sexual encounter.”
Josh Baxter received his sentence at Minshull Street Crown Court today for the death of Michael Barron, who had appeared in both Hollyoaks and Emmerdale.
The 38-year-old actor suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at Mr Baxter’s Manchester flat following oxygen deprivation to his brain.
A jury found Mr Baxter guilty of intentional strangulation or suffocation and unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm, though he was acquitted of the more serious charge of manslaughter.
Michael Barron appeared in both Hollyoaks and Emmerdale
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The pair had connected through the dating app Grindr, where they exchanged messages about their shared interest in rough sex before arranging to meet.
The court heard that both men were part of the BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism) community and had discussed their preferences extensively via the app before meeting.
Mr Barron had expressed his desire to be restrained and rendered completely helpless, telling Mr Baxter he enjoyed “pain and torture,” according to evidence presented during the trial.
Upon arriving at the flat at 4:27 pm, the pair initially chatted about general topics, including films, before moving on to discuss their sexual boundaries.
Josh Baxter has been sentenced to four years in prison
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GMP
Mr Baxter then bound Mr Barron with a rope and proceeded to suffocate him for a minimum of 30 minutes.
The strangulation was so forceful that it fractured bone and cartilage in Mr Barron’s neck, the court was told.
Prosecutor Anne Whyte KC revealed that Mr Baxter had “quite specific sexual interests” and that the risks involved were integral to the activity he wished to pursue.
Throughout the trial, Mr Baxter maintained that the neck injury occurred accidentally and that everything that took place was consensual.
The trial took place at Minshull Street Crown Court
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He told the jury: “I never saw it as a dangerous activity. I have never hurt someone before, doing choking.”
However, evidence emerged that approximately a month before Mr Barron’s death, another individual had cautioned Mr Baxter about the hazards associated with choking during sex.
Following this warning, Mr Baxter searched online and found information confirming these dangers.
Judge Tina Landale addressed this directly during sentencing.
She 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.”
The judge added that Mr Baxter had encouraged Mr Barron to consume large quantities of vodka and become extremely intoxicated, describing his actions as reckless.
Mr Barron’s mother, Mary Power, delivered an emotional tribute to her son at the sentencing hearing, describing him as not only her child but her closest companion.
“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 told the court.
A jury found Baxter guilty of intentional strangulation or suffocation and unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm
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GETTY
She remembered her son as someone who was “kind, compassionate and very unique” and who had brought light into her life from the moment he was born.
Mr Barron’s sister Lisa also described how acting had been her brother’s greatest ambition, stressing that his life had been “cut short unnecessarily and a future full of dreams left unfinished.”
