The father of Katie Price’s “missing” husband, Lee Andrews, has claimed his son has been imprisoned in Dubai.
The reality star made headlines last weekend when she revealed that she hadn’t heard from her husband of four months in days – and feared that he may have been “kidnapped”.
But according to Andrews’s dad Peter, his son has been detained by UAE authorities on an unknown charge, and is expected to contact him later today.
“Lee is OK. He has not been kidnapped, but he is under arrest. I don’t know on what charge,” he told DailyMail.co.uk.
“I’m not sure where he is being held. But he will call me later today.”
Price, 47, married Dubai-based businessman Lee Andrews in January just days after meeting him for the first time. It has not been a drama-free honeymoon period for the pair who are navigating a long-distance relationship, with the University of Cambridge disputing Andrews’s claims that he earned a PhD from the institution.
Price claimed that Andrews had disappeared after he was due to fly from Dubai to the UK for an appearance on Good Morning Britain.
According to Price, the Criminal Investigation Department in Dubai is looking for Andrews, but “no one can find anywhere in the country that Lee has been detained”.
“We are now wondering, as far-fetched as it is, that he’s a missing person now, I don’t know if he’s been kidnapped,” she added. “No one can find him in any prison, any police station; the police can’t find any record of him.” The Independent has contacted the Dubai police for comment.
Price raised the alarm over Andrews’ whereabouts for the first time publicly on 16 May in a YouTube video. “I don’t really know where to begin but I know there’s all this speculation about Lee from when I met him,” she said. “Something really, really serious has happened.”
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She added that while she had posted to Instagram that Andrews was “taking time out of socials” due to recent trolling, the truth was that he had been missing “for three days”.
“The last time I heard from Lee was Wednesday night at 10pm, he was trying to go through the border in Dubai to get on a flight to me,” she said. “We are wondering if he’s been kidnapped; he’s definitely a missing person now.”
She also claimed that Andrews’ hands were tied when she last spoke to him. “He had ties around his hand, not handcuffs, and a hood, and he said, ‘Look, they’re coming back for me,’ that is the last FaceTime call I had,” she said.
“He was in a van, but the windows were white with a mesh. It looked like an old, dirty van.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told The Independent: “We are supporting the family of a British man and are in contact with the local authorities.”
