Who was Barry Bethell?

DISGRACED radio and TV star Barry Bethell died at the age of 80, over a decade after he was locked up.

The personality, who was famous for flogging Slimfast in the 1990s, was jailed for four years in 2008 after being found guilty of child abuse.

Who was Barry Bethell? 

Barry Bethell was a DJ and radio personality.

He was also the face of diet shakes Slimfast for a time.

He starred in TV adverts for the weight loss product in the 1990s.

Bethell also appeared on a handful of TV shows in the 1990s and early 2000s.

He featured on The Danny Baker Show in 1994 and After They Were Famous in 2002.

When did Barry Bethell die?

Bethell’s death was confirmed in June 2023.

The Sun reported on June 20 that Bethell, of Chestfield, Kent had passed away.

Why did Barry Bethell go to prison? 

Bethell was jailed for four years in 2009 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a child.

He was convicted of luring the child to his home with the promise that he could help her break into showbusiness.

Bethell was acquitted of assaulting another girl.

Judge Adele Williams told Bethell, who was 66 at the time, at sentencing: “You do not begin to recognise the damage you have caused to this young life.”

The previous month, Barry had been found guilty of three charges of taking indecent images of a child following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent.

He had admitted eight other charges, including seven of taking indecent images of children.

The eighth charge was for possessing indecent images downloaded from the internet.

At the time, Judge Williams recommended Bethell serve at least half his sentence.

He had already spent 483 days in custody after his arrest in 2008, meaning he was left with about eight months left in prison.

Annabel Darlow, mitigating for Bethell, said he had brought “happiness” through his radio programmes and charity work prior to his arrest.

She also described him as a “happily married man and supportive father”.

She added that events following his arrest had made him realise “how he [had] fallen from a previous position of grace”.

Detective Con Mark Butler, of Kent Police, said: “Barry Bethell has denied the offences and has refused to assist police throughout the case.

“The children involved showed great courage by telling an adult and also going through the experience of giving evidence to police and to the court.”

Was Barry Bethell married and did he have any children?

Barry was married to his wife Barbara.

She died from cancer in September 2004.

At trial, Bethell said he was “disgusted” with himself for taking the photographs of young girls and said he was grieving for his wife.

He has been described as a father but it is not known how many children he had.