Katie Price's announcement that she has finally 'found' her husband Lee Andrews was meant to bring closure to one of the biggest mysteries in showbusiness. However, the revelation has instead sparked more questions than answers after the glamour model claimed her husband called her from Al Awir prison in Dubai.
The Daily Mail reported on Saturday that Lee had been arrested and is locked up in a Dubai prison, according to his father, a claim Katie initially debunked. Lee vanished 11 days before it was revealed he was discovered in prison, after sending Katie a video of himself hooded with his hands tied, claiming he was 'bundled into a van' and taken to a 'black site' while trying to reach London. He sent a series of texts and voice messages to the mother of five, alleging kidnapping. It is understood Lee was arrested on Thursday, May 14.
Even her latest claim of Lee's 'imprisonment' appears riddled with inconsistencies, as the Foreign Office refuses to confirm or deny whether he is indeed incarcerated.
Foreign Office Statement
Katie broke the news that Lee had been found on Wednesday, telling The Sun: 'I have found him – he is alive, and he is ok. I told him how worried I had been and told him I loved him. It was very rushed, but he said the authorities out there thought he was a spy. I don't know much more than that right now.' However, the Foreign Office has refused to confirm or deny whether Lee is being held in Dubai's notorious Al Awir prison. A spokesman repeated an earlier statement saying UK consular officials were 'supporting the family' of a British man and were 'in contact with officials' in the UAE about his whereabouts. An FCDO spokesperson said: 'We are supporting the family of a British man and are in contact with the local authorities.'
Lee's Phone Turned Back On
Lee had vanished 11 days before it was revealed he was discovered in a prison, after sending Katie a video of him hooded with his hands tied after being 'bundled into a van' and taken to a 'black site' while trying to reach London. He sent a series of texts and voice messages to the mother of five, claiming he had been kidnapped. It is understood Lee was arrested on Thursday, May 14. Since then, Katie claimed she had been unable to reach Lee, and any WhatsApp messages she sent failed to be delivered. On Sunday, this no longer seemed to be the case, as a source claimed one of Lee's phones had been turned back on. They told The Sun: 'I had been messaging Lee and was getting no response. But on Sunday morning, my messages had gone from a single tick to a double – so that device is back on and being used. Lee has multiple phones but this is the one that is being used now.'
Social Media Return
If Lee was in prison as Katie claimed, it is extremely unlikely he would have the freedom to update his Instagram. But on Friday, Lee appeared to re-emerge on social media, over a week after Katie last had contact with him, to follow another woman called Marisol on Instagram. Sources claimed that Marisol, who describes herself as a 'biker babe,' has history with millionaires, having previously used a matchmaking site dedicated to those with large fortunes. Katie was reportedly 'beyond furious' by Lee's apparent social media return nine days after his disappearance, after previously sharing her fears he'd been 'kidnapped' in Dubai. Just a day later, Marisol revealed that she has blocked him on the platform, as reported by The Sun. There had been claims that Lee was active on Facebook through Messenger, but Katie later insisted that it was her using his account.
The Mysterious Third Phone
Lee's disappearance was first revealed when Katie claimed she'd been sent a video of him hooded with his hands tied after being 'bundled into a van' and taken to a 'black site' while trying to reach London. The star claimed soon after that her husband in fact owned three phones, but Lee allegedly told her that only two of these had been taken by police. In a video on her YouTube channel, Katie said: 'Last night, [he] said, "They've taken two of my phones. They don't know I'm on this phone. And so he said, "I'll just let you know I've been arrested, if they ring you."" He wrote a text quick. I mean, I hope he's all right, but I don't know. You're like me, I have no idea. He's been in there nearly 24 hours.' Lee seemed to claim that he'd used his third phone to contact Katie, despite also saying his hands had been tied. Bar boasting skills that Harry Houdini would be proud of, it seems unlikely that Lee would have had the ability to FaceTime Katie if he had been bound as he claimed.
Calling His Dad First
Given Katie and Lee's whirlwind romance, one would assume that she would be his first point of contact when he was arrested. But instead, Lee decided to contact his father, with Daily Mail first revealing his arrest after his long-suffering dad spoke to him. Peter – who is one of the few people in Dubai to support his son – has told the Daily Mail that Andrews has been arrested by the UAE authorities. The businessman said: 'Lee is OK. He has not been kidnapped but he is under arrest. I don't know on what charge. I'm not sure where he is being held. But he will call me later today. He is not at my house,' he added. There was no sign of Lee at his last known address in the run-down Satwa district of the city. He had lived there with his father Peter before becoming involved with Katie. It came soon after Lee's dad, Peter, reportedly text Katie to explain where Lee was and later set up a phone call with him from the prison call box. It was claimed that Lee had been keeping a low profile in the days before his arrest and had moved his belongings out of his apartment and into his dad's.
The Daily Mail were dispatched to Dubai after the former glamour model announced her fourth husband was 'missing' and that she was concerned about his safety. The British Foreign Office were alerted but their staff in Dubai were unable to find any trace of him. The Dubai authorities also denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. Al Awir Central, nicknamed Dubai's Alcatraz, is notorious for its brutal conditions, with inmates tortured for confessions and suffering from horrific illnesses. Dangerous prisoners are kept in unsanitary and overcrowded cells, alongside expats, including British citizens, many who are held without formal charges or coerced into making confessions. Lee is now facing what former detainees have described as inhumane conditions, where up to 15 men are forced to share a single room, sleeping on bunk beds and the floor.
Katie shared her devastation in the days after Lee first went missing and she couldn't contact her husband, who she married in January after a week-long romance. Katie last spoke to her husband when he was trying to board a 10pm flight from Dubai to Britain on May 13. Lee had been due to appear on Good Morning Britain for their first joint interview, but he failed to make it over to the UK.
