Susanna Reid has offered a withering reaction to Lee Andrews’ extraordinary claim that he was captured at gunpoint by armed men and held at a secret facility on suspicion of espionage, after a month of drama surrounding Katie Price’s husband culminated in a late-night Instagram video that left the Good Morning Britain presenter visibly unimpressed.
Andrews, 43, who had been missing for a month before his release from Dubai’s notorious Al Awir Central Prison last week, returned to social media on Tuesday night to dispute widespread reports that he had been arrested on fraud allegations. Instead, he claimed he was “taken at the Qatar border by men, at gunpoint” by men carrying assault rifles who “did slap me round a little bit,” before being transferred to what he described as a “black site” connected to the National Guard, where he had no access to his phone, a shower or any contact with family, the British embassy or his wife.
GMB entertainment reporter Richard Arnold relayed the update on Wednesday morning, but Susanna was having none of it. “I think my eyes just rolled out of my head,” she told him flatly when he finished his report — a particularly pointed response given that Andrews had first come to the show’s attention when he failed to show up for a joint interview with Katie Price on GMB last month.
In the video, Andrews insisted: “At no point have I faced anything to do with fraud allegations or criminal activities,” and hit out at his ex-fiancée Alana Percival for what he claimed was spreading false information. He said it was Katie who had secured his release by alerting UK authorities, saying: “Without her help involving all the UK authorities, I don’t think I would have got out of that situation.” He credited the UAE with eventually listening to her appeals and releasing him from the “black site,” before acknowledging a “civil case in Dubai” that led to a brief stint in mainstream prison during Eid before he secured his release.
Despite having previously said she had questions for her husband and making clear she would not pay a penny of the reported £140,000 bail demanded for his release, Katie, 48, appeared to accept his account. She shared his video on Instagram with the caption: “My husband is back. I love you.” She had flown to Dubai at the weekend and was pictured leaping into Andrews’ arms before the couple headed to Vox Dubai, an outdoor rooftop cinema, to watch a World Cup match together, packing on the PDA in what appeared to be a warm reunion.
Reports had previously suggested Andrews was imprisoned on fraud allegations, with friends urging Katie to leave him, but she has remained publicly loyal throughout the saga.
