Emmerdale Actor Died After ‘Extreme’ Sex Session With Grindr Date

An actor who appeared in Emmerdale and Hollyoaks died during an ‘extreme’ sex session with a Grindr date who tied him up and strangled him for 30 minutes.

Michael Barron, 38, went to a flat in North Manchester in January 2025 to meet Josh Baxter. The pair had met on the gay dating app and had been sexting each other.

They discussed rape roleplay – with Barron stating that he liked to be ‘tied, gagged, hooded, totally helpless’, and that he liked ‘pain and torture’.

Well, during their encounter, Baxter strangled Barron so hard that a bone and cartilage snapped in his neck.

He also tied Barron face-down onto the bed and lay on top of him for so long that he suffered a cardiac arrest and died due to the lack of oxygen reaching his brain.

Instead of calling 999, Baxter ordered a takeaway, messaged other men on Grindr, and then started Googling his chances of going to prison.

Turns out the chances were pretty solid – Baxter has now been convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and intentional suffocation, and jailed for four years. He has been acquitted of manslaughter.

Baxter had denied all charges, claiming he didn’t realise Barron was dead because he was snoring despite his face being purple.

When Barron stopped snoring, Baxter made the following Google searches:

• ‘how to tell if someone is alive’
• ‘how to tell if someone is breathing’
• ‘if you accidentally kill someone by strangling them during sex do you go to prison’
• ‘is it illegal to f*** someone in their sleep even if you have their consent’.

Yikes.

So it sounds like maybe these two were living out a high-risk mutual sexual fantasy, and it all went horrifically wrong. I guess if you’re going to do that sort of thing, it’s best to establish rules and trust first, rather than just turn up, get f—ed, and put your life in the hands of a complete lunatic.

RIP Michael Barron and thoughts with his friends and family.

For the married anti-gay pastor who got busted looking for d1ck on Grindr, click HERE. Amazing how often that happens.