IRISH DRIVER SUPPLIED COCAINE TO COMIC

AN IRISH chauffeur has admitted he was Michael Barrymore's cocaine dealer.

Gary Gallagher from Cork took regular EUR1,500-a-time orders for the drug from the disgraced TV star after befriending Barrymore when he once drove him home.

In a sensational interview today, Gary, 32, tells how Barrymore: PANICKED when he thought someone might have followed the drug dealer to his mansion.

lORDERED Gary to deliver cocaine and ecstasy at all hours when the star was partying with pals.

lSNORTED cocaine off the dashboard of the limo after he demanded Gary stop the car so he could get his fix.

Barrymore, 50, was sacked by ITV bosses last week in the wake of the inquest into 31-year-old Stuart Lubbock's death.

The butchery worker was found face up in Barrymore's swimming pool at his e3million Essex mansion.

There was evidence he had been sexually assaulted and had taken drugs.

Gary told the Irish Sunday Mirror yesterday: "After the death of Stuart Lubbock in March I threw my mobile phone away as I didn't want to be involved with anything to do with Michael Barrymore.

"I had to throw in my job as I was terrified that the police would want to speak with me and I couldn't tell them what I was doing. I only do a bit of puff [cannabis] and the coke deals a really just a favour.

"If you look at Barrymore's past record you will see he's nothing but a jinx. Everything he touches seems to be doomed."

Gary worked as a chauffeur for a limousine hire company based in south London. It was here he met Barrymore and one of his jobs was to take Barrymore home after an LWT appearance.

It was not long into the journey before Barrymore, whose mother Margaret was from Ballina, Co Mayo, turned the subject to drugs.

Gary, who has lived in London for 10 years, said: "He asked me how far I had to go and what I did to unwind after work.

"I explained I liked a smoke [cannabis] and with that he gave me his first order. It turned out I didn't live that far away from him - about 15 miles.

"It was obvious that he had bought drugs before because of the terminology that he used to describe what he'd done in the past.

"When I delivered the puff that he'd ordered I asked him for pounds 80 and he gave me pounds 100 and told me to keep the change.

"This is when he asked if I could get anything else. He asked for ecstasy and cocaine and I said I'd call round the next day.

"He gave me his mobile number and when I called him to say how much coke I had got him - which was pounds 100's worth - he went into panic mode and said: 'That's no f***ing good to me, I need a grand's worth.'

"So I went back to the guy I was getting it from and he had to give it to me on tick as I didn't have that sort of cash."

Gary has driven many stars including Boyzone, Dudley Moore, Cliff Richard and Phil Collins, but there is no suggestion that they ever asked him for drugs.

His Mercedes was damaged by Barrymore when he threw up in the back of the car after an awards ceremony. Gary had to have it specially cleaned at a cost of EUR110.

After supplying Michael for nearly a year they became friends and Barrymore started inviting Gary into his house to share a joint with him when he made his deliveries.

He said: "It was obvious that he couldn't have been doing the amount of coke I was selling to him so it must have been going to other people as well. He was going through 15 grammes a day - which is a lot.

"When I went into the sitting room at his house you could see that he was very wealthy. The cocktail bar he had was a joke and it was full with every kind of drink you can imagine from Champagne to light ale.

"On a couple of occasions I heard other people in the house but they were obviously told to stay out of the way until I had gone.

"There were never any arguments about the money. It was always there for me, in pounds 20s if he had been to the cash point or pounds 50 notes if he had been to the bank.

"On one occasion he asked if I would take a cheque and I told him: 'I'm not Harrods'. It never happened again."

Gary was a small time drug dealer who only earned small amounts of money from selling cannabis. He only started supplying the cocaine to Barrymore as a favour.

Gary has started a new life in Britain but since the inquest into Mr Lubbock's death started Gary admitted the episode in his life still haunts him.

"It's in the papers everyday and there are people who could try to find me even though I couldn't help at the inquest. Barrymore's admitted taking drugs and I know and he knows that he can't name the person he bought them off because he didn't know the car firm I worked for.

"I would go to the police if I could help them but I would probably end up in prison while Michael goes free.

"If Mr Lubbock had cocaine in his system the chances are that it was supplied by somebody else as I hadn't seen Barrymore for about nine or 10 days."

Gary added: "I no longer deal in anything and both my girlfriend and I work for a living so we no longer keep the same company as we used to and just want to get on with the rest of our lives.

"One day I dropped off somebody at London City Airport and on return I collected Michael from London Weekend Television studios.

"As soon as he got into the car I started the engine and headed towards Essex.

"He asked me to stop in a quiet street and got into the front of the car where he cut up a line of coke on the dashboard with a gold credit card.

"It was wrapped in a different paper to the stuff I was getting him which led me to believe that he was also getting cocaine elsewhere.

"Because of my work, if Michael called I would sometimes have to make him wait for up to 12 hours.

"On another trip to his home in Roydon he'd called and asked me to get him some ecstasy and coke.

"I got the impression that he'd never had ecstasy because he said he wanted to try them. I phoned him five minutes before I arrived and he was waiting for me by the electric gates of his home in a drunken stupor.

"I told him he shouldn't take ecstasy with alcohol and it was hard work try to explain that people who take it do so with plenty of water.

"That night he gave me pounds 1,000 for the coke and pounds 200 for the 20 tablets that I'd given him.

"Michael would often get very paranoid and would ask me if I'd been followed to which I said: 'Why would someone want to follow me?'

"Another time I took him shopping in Bond Street and Oxford Street where he spent a fortune on clothes.

"We were there for a good six hours and when we'd finished I asked him if he'd bought anything nice. He said: 'It's not for me it's for the boyfriend.'

"Barrymore always carried a daft baseball cap around with him as he thought people wouldn't recognise him in it but he was still stopped for his autograph every five minutes.

"He even confessed to me that his drinking was out of hand and how sometimes he couldn't remember where he'd been for many hours.

"But if I had to collect him first thing in the morning you wouldn't believe he'd been out all night.

"He was good at covering up and would look as fresh as a daisy."

Gary has asked us to make it clear that he is not being paid for this interview.

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