Newham man found dead in ‘gay bathhouse’

Pat Coughtrey , News Editor Wednesday, July 18, 2012
11:34 AM

A man found dead in a “gay bathhouse” has been named by police as Roberto Jesus Messuti, 46, from Newham.

Police and ambulance crews were called last Wednesday (July 11) after his body was discovered at 7.20am in Chariots Roman Spa, Shoreditch, which advertises itself as a ‘gay bathhouse’ and the ‘UK’s largest and friendliest gay men’s sauna’.

The death is being treated as “unexplained”, according to Hackney police, who have made no arrests.

A post-mortem examination was carried out last Thursday at Poplar Mortuary, but police are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

A spa spokesman said a shift manager found the man’s body and confirmed the spa, in Fairchild Street, was closed for two days but re-opened on Friday.

It is the second death there in six years. A 24-year-old man died from a drugs overdose in April 2006.

The venue, which is designed in the style of a Roman baths and has two ‘30-man steam rooms’S, a ‘giant cruise room’, and a ‘chill out room’, hit the headlines in May 1998 when footballer Justin Fashanu spent an evening there before committing suicide later that night.

Detectives want to speak to anyone who was at Chariots between the evening of Tuesday, July 10, and the morning of Wednesday, July 11.

Anyone with information should call officers on 020 8721 7760, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.