Katie Price claims that her husband Lee Andrews may have been ‘kidnapped’ as an official missing persons report is filed. But what do we really know about the murky Dubai businessman?
Katie Price has been accused of ‘exploiting’ her husband Lee Andrews by his upset mother, as the mystery around his whereabouts deepens.
The glamour model claims that Lee vanished while travelling to the UK from Dubai, and that he last made contact around 10 pm on Wednesday, May 13. By the following day, Katie, 47, said she couldn’t get hold of her husband. An official missing person report has since been filed, and Katie says she fears the Dubai businessman may have been ‘kidnapped’.
Lee’s mum, Trisha Andrews, has now spoken out for the first time since her son vanished. After someone wrote “I think everyone needs to leave her alone as she’s not responsible for Pric’es drama queen antics,” on Trisha’s Facebook post, she replied: “Thank you Jane it’s Katy exployting. [sic] And I get all the backlash x.” She also wrote back to another commenter: “Don’t be a hypocrite and believe all the media.”
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Lee‘s bizarre claims about his career have unravelled in recent months, with previous partners also speaking out. He made a string of claims across his social media pages, including that he has held quite senior roles in major institutions, including at the Prince’s Trust and even the Labour Party, all of which were debunked by the Mirror.
Katie had, until now, stayed firmly loyal to her fourth husband – fiercely shutting down critics and insisting they are the “happiest Mr and Mrs”. But things changed last week when Lee didn’t turn up for a Good Morning Britain interview, as she said it made her “look like a d***” by missing the gig.
With Lee’s loved ones now said to be “desperately worried”, we look at what we really know about Katie’s husband – from his ‘geeky’ school years to his brushes with the law.
From ‘geeky’ child to Dubai ‘runner’
Born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Lee’s humble childhood was a far cry from the now lavish life he claims to enjoy in Dubai. His father, Peter, 65, worked as a coal miner, while his mum, Trisha, 64, has built a reputation as a well-known psychic in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, where she regularly runs events. His sister is said to be an ambulance driver.
A photograph from Lee’s school years shows a smiley child with an uneven fringe. He reportedly attended The Rufford School, a former comprehensive in the Mansfield area that has since closed its doors. A source close to his family told The Daily Mail that he worked for Rolls-Rocye after finishing school, before “doing a runner to Dubai in the early 2000s to get away from problems”.
But even as he made a name for himself in the UAE, things apparently weren’t easy. One Dubai source shared: “One minute he’d be flush with cash, the next he was selling watches and stuff on eBay.”
While Lee has claimed to be a multi-millionaire, it’s claimed that just one week before his lavish proposal to Katie, he was ‘begging’ women for cash, and complaining about surviving on 20p ready meals.
However, Katie has firmly dismissed the idea that Lee is some sort of conman, insisting that he has covered her first-class flights back and forth from Dubai, as well as all their dates. She told the paper: “I can reassure everyone at home that I haven’t gone for a con man. I haven’t gone for a scammer. There was no love bombing. I’ve gone for a beautiful human being who genuinely makes me happy, who I’m so in love with.”
‘Horrified’ family
Compared with Katie’s previous extravagant ceremonies, her wedding to Lee was relatively low-key. The pair married with just an officiator present, with Katie reportedly clad in an £11.89 bargain dress from Shein.
A source previously told us: “Katie married her ‘Richard Gere’ in a bargain fashion dress from Shein – it hardly screams Pretty Woman, does it?” But it was the secretive nature of the ceremony, not the fashion, that took people by surprise. Those closest to Katie had no idea that she was even engaged, let alone walking up the aisle.
Her daughter, Princess, reportedly “had no idea about her engagement before she announced it” and was said to be “heartbroken”. Those close to the star feared things were moving too fast, with Katie in love once again mere weeks after splitting with JJ Slater.
A source said: “Kate married Lee without telling anyone – the whole family are completely horrified,” a source said. But Lee’s clairvoyant mum, Trisha, has insisted she knew about the wedding. Noting that “a lot of lies going around about Lee and that’s made me really upset”, she revealed: “He did tell me that the wedding was happening. He spoke to me, and if he is happy, I am happy – he’s my son, and that’s all that matters.”
She continued: “Of course, I know who Katie is. I’ve always been very neutral about her. Everyone deserves a chance, you should never judge anyone in life.” Trisha, defending her son, then joked: “You can ask what it’s like to have a famous daughter-in-law, but she’s got a famous mother-in-law!”
After exchanging vows, Katie offered a peek at the £180,000 Ferrari Lee supposedly gifted her as a wedding present, but it was feared by some that she wouldn’t be driving it for long. A source told the Mirror: “He would buy cars as gifts for women, then claim that the car needed to go into the workshop. They’d never see it again.”
Wild tales
Lee’s packed CV certainly makes for interesting reading, but at least some of the details have been disputed. On his LinkedIn page, Lee claimed to be a Member Of The Board of Advisors for the Labour Party, having held this role since May 2015, alongside being a Labour Party board member (not seated) in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire.
However, as revealed by the Mirror, Lee is not a member of the Labour Party team., with a Labour source telling us “We don’t have a ‘Board of Advisors’ and this individual doesn’t work with us.” When approached for comment, Lee said: “Supporter is the word your after [sic].”
Lee has also claimed to have held the position of Director of Philanthropy at The King’s Trust (formerly The Prince’s Trust) by royal appointment since April 2018, with a focus on sustainability and the environment. However, the Mirror has been informed that there is no record of Lee holding this appointment and that there are no volunteers with this title.
According to Lee’s LinkedIn, which gives his alma mater as the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Cambridge University, he is also a doctor, with the official title of “Doctor Lee Peter John Andrews”. LinkedIn aside, Lee’s star-studded social media pages have caused a stir.
The entrepreneur has previously shared photographs of himself with SpaceX owner Elon Musk and reality star-turned-businesswoman Kim Kardashian. However, it’s understood that these images aren’t real and have instead been generated using AI. Discussing the snaps, one source said, “Kim doesn’t know him; the photo is faked. This happens to her all the time – she’s never met or worked with this man.”
‘Prison stint in Dubai begging for cash’
A week on from their romantic nuptials, a source told the Mirror that Lee spent time in custody and warned that Katie should be very wary. The fellow Brit claimed that he shared a cell in a Dubai Central Prison with Lee for a period of three weeks in October last year – and that they fear for the former glamour model’s marriage – claiming that Katie’s new husband is a “scammer” of the highest degree. Lee was contacted by The Mirror for comment at the time, where he denied all the allegations.
The source claimed the self-titled billionaire was asking fellow inmates for loans to help with his case. They added: “He said the payment he needed to make was around 30,000 dirhams. He asked myself and two other inmates in our cell if he could borrow that money from us and he would repay it immediately upon his release.
“I said I couldn’t afford to lend him that money but I continued to give him financial assistance inside the jail giving him things he needed like telephone cards and canteen items and clothing.” After a week inside central jail, our source claimed Lee borrowed money from someone outside to pay the minimum amount required to be released.
The source did not form a close bond with Lee on the inside, as they explained: “I found him to be a compulsive liar and didn’t enjoy his company. Lee was only interested in what he could benefit from other people, myself included. He did get into a few physical fights with other inmates, too.”
Mystery ‘disappearance’
Last week, Katie and Lee were due to make their first joint appearance on Good Morning Britain; however, the businessman was a no-show after failing to make his flight back to the UK. Expressing her frustrations on her podcast, Katie told sister Sophie: “I said to him, ‘You’ve made me look a massive d***. You’ve made yourself look a d***’ It’s now become a soap opera. Something from EastEnders of ‘is he coming, is he not coming?’ Like, it’s all been built up.”
Shortly afterwards, Katie told fans that Lee wasn’t taking a social media break. She claimed: “The truth is, Lee has been missing for three days. The last time I heard from Lee was Wednesday night at 10 pm, he was trying to go through the border in Dubai to get on a flight to me.
“Lee was trying to get through the border at Hatta. This is so discombobulating. His location went off at 10.03 pm on Wednesday night. That’s the last contact anyone has had – his family and me. This is the third day now. Obviously, he phoned me before the location went off. He’s in the middle of nowhere. I’m worried like ‘what the hell’s happened?’ Then Thursday’s come, my messages aren’t going through. It was just one tick.”
Some of Katie’s concerned fans have accused Lee of ‘faking’ his kidnapping to disappear, with one writing: “He’s done this because his scam was up and he had to come up with a reason for not coming to the UK. He’s gone silent coz he got caught. He’s nuts. This is all faked by him; the man is crazy.” Another agreed, suggesting: “Who’d want to kidnap him? H’’s hiding cos he knows he’s been sussed.”
However, Katie is adamant that this isn’t the case, and sources close to her say she “mortified” that some people believe it’s a publicity stunt. A source said: “Katie is in constant contact with his family and is desperately worried. And she’s mortified — she’s seen people calling it a stunt and that she must be in on it, but she’s absolutely not.”
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com.
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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
