Lee Andrews – the Dubai businessman turned ‘missing’ husband of Katie Price – has been on my radar for nearly as long as he’s been on hers.
Lee Andrews has been on my radar for nearly as long as he’s been on Katie Price‘s. The Dubai businessman hasn’t been out the headlines since he married Katie in a whirlwind romance at the start of this year. Less than five months before he rose to prominence, Lee has already gone ‘missing’.
He was due to be in the UK for a special interview alongside Katie for Good Morning Britain a couple of weeks back, but he failed to board his flight. From there, things took quite the turn, but no one could predict what happened next.
His wife Katie claimed Lee had been ‘kidnapped’ and FaceTimed her, where he said he had his hands tied with cable ties by his alleged captors. Since then, even more bizarre claims have come about, including that he sent texts saying he had been detained and arrested and then backtracking on those claims.
Katie was accused of ‘exploiting’ the alleged ‘kidnap’ by Lee’s mother Trisha, whilst over the weekend, Lee’s dad claims that his son is in prison in Dubai, but Katie has branded that ‘fake news’. Keeping up? No, me neither.
READ MORE: Lee Andrews LIVE: Katie Price says husband had 3 mobile phones when he went missingREAD MORE: ‘I met Lee Andrews’ mum amid kidnap fears – her words left me speechless’
As journalists, we’re – of course – at the forefront of the news. The Mirror broke the story that Lee Andrews had been imprisoned in Dubai last year. Back in February, we revealed that Lee had spent time inside, which he denied.
A fellow Brit had claimed to us that he shared a cell in a Dubai Central Prison with Lee for a period of three weeks in October last year and branded Katie’s new husband a “scammer” of the highest degree. February was the first – and last – time I spoke to Lee.
We contacted him to ask if he had any comments. He did. In two lengthy voice notes, sent minutes apart, Lee responded to the claims but what he did next surprised me.
At the end of the voice note, he told me: “Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you for giving me the heads up.” Not the usual response when we go to someone with allegations about something so serious as prison and being called a ‘scammer’.
Things were confusing again – but even more confusing now. When someone goes missing or is detained abroad, the first point of contact is the Foreign Office. We have contacted them on multiple occasions and the only response we’ve ever had is the following: “We are supporting the family of a British man and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Despite more news surfacing about Lee’s alleged ‘kidnap’ and his father’s claims that he is in prison in Dubai, the Foreign Office have never gone further than their original statement. An unusual move in itself.
When the Foreign Office was contacted by Good Morning Britain after he failed to board a flight to the UK for the show, a spokesperson told the programme that a British national had been detained in the United Arab Emirates. Katie denied that was Lee and later, he took to his own social media to say he had not been detained in an even more bizarre turn of events.
Katie has claimed she is ‘stepping back’ from it all – before she released her latest video update on the saga – and said she was leaving it in the hands of the authorities including Interpol. We have contacted Interpol on multiple occasions but are yet to hear back.
What continues to puzzle me is that Lee’s renewed phone activity (he’s apparently been seen online multiple times despite being ‘kidnapped’) hasn’t put to bed the story that Lee is ‘missing’. No kidnappers would let you use your phone.
Investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas, who was a key player online in the reporting and discourse surrounding the sad deaths of Jay Slater and Nicola Bulley, has pointed out the puzzling truth that there’s been no request for ransom – a usual move when someone is kidnapped. Even Katie confirmed she was surprised she had no requests for a ransom.
So where is Lee Andrews? Not sure. Who is Lee Andrews? He’s just a ‘missing’ man that still appears to have access to (one of) his three phones. Make of that what you will.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
