Man found dead in Southport’s Marine lake appeared in court on child porn charges hours before

Photo: Police at Marine Lake, Southport (9.30am)

Man found dead in Southport’s Marine lake appeared in court on child porn charges hours before.

Stephen Barlow from St Helens appeared before St Helens Magistrates Court charged with seven counts of making indecent images of children on Friday 3rd June 2016.

The 58-year-old, of Napier Street, West Park, did not enter a plea.

He was released on conditional bail to appear for trial later this month.

All the offences are said to have taken place between June and December 2015.

The following morning (Saturday 4 June) Merseyside police received a call at 8.55am from a member of the public who reported seeing a body in the water at Southport Marine Lake.

Police, the ambulance and fire services attended the location and the body of Stephen Barlow was pulled from the water.

A post mortem has revealed Mr Barlow died from drowning. His next of kin have been informed and enquiries are ongoing.

Detectives are keen to establish how Mr Barlow came to be in Southport and his movements leading up to his death and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

Anyone who has information which could help the enquiry are asked to call Sefton CID on 0151 777 3059, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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