IN just three days, Katie Price’s husband Lee Andrews is due to be released from Dubai’s hell-hole Al Awir prison.
But the news of his imminent return to freedom has emboldened the women who have been caught up in his web of lies and deceit – and now they’re determined to see him locked up for good.
Over the past five months, I have spoken to the women who have survived Andrews, and their extraordinary stories are chilling.
From financial fraud on a life-changing scale to even more shocking allegations, the women painted a terrifying picture of the man Katie chose to marry just weeks after meeting him earlier this year.
For months, the women have shared evidence with The Sun – and the relevant police authorities – in the hope that the law will catch up with Andrews.
Together they stood firm as he desperately tried to smear their reputations, telling me in a long and rambling voice note that one of the women was disturbed and had spent time inside a “mental institution”.
He claimed they were fantasists, liars and angrily declared: “I know you’re a lady and everything, but women can be very harsh.”
I didn’t believe a word he said to me then, and I still don’t now.
But the patience of the women involved is understandably wearing thin.
His arrest in Dubai on a civil matter has, they tell me, been for Andrews just a brief taste of what they hope is to come.
Justice for these women, however, will be a war that will not be easily won.
“Lee is a dangerous man, and the authorities need to act,” one of the women tells me from their home in the US.
“All of the women Lee has conned in the past have come together in a group, and we are determined to fight to get justice.
“It does feel incredibly hopeless at times. No one in power seems to be properly acting. But we’re standing together, and we will do everything we can to make the police act.”
Criminal complaints have been lodged against Andrews by one woman with Hertfordshire Police.
Another of his victims, businesswoman Crystal Janke, reported an alleged theft of £123,000 to cops in America.
The uphill battle they face is the fact that Andrews resides in Dubai and is unable to leave due to a travel ban.
Andrews, ultimately, is able to dodge culpability because of where he is.
Hertfordshire Police confirmed to me they had handed the complaints filed to them to cops in Dubai because the alleged incidents happened in the UAE.
These allegations, to add, are incredibly serious.
They need to see him hauled in for questioning.
But so far, the police there have seemingly failed to act in any way to investigate Andrews, let alone arrest him.
The financial fraud complaint made to cops against Andrews in the US by Crystal is also dangling in the ether.
The police confirmed they can only act against Andrews if he lands on US soil.
And let’s be honest, Andrews isn’t going to be leaving Dubai anytime soon.
From the number of phone calls I had in the days leading up to Andrews’ arrest, the women who have joined forces to try and bring the con-artist to justice are not alone in their plight.
Andrews is alleged to owe vast sums of money to several people in Dubai.
Each individual wants him taken to task, and no one more so than the women whose lives he has irrevocably damaged in one way or another.
“We see ourselves as survivors of Lee, not victims,” one woman tells me.
“But to say the slow progress by the police in Dubai is frustrating is an understatement.
“The complaints are racking up, and nothing is being done.
“Some of us have even gone to the lengths of contacting the police when we know where Lee is and pleading with them to arrest him.
“Repeatedly, we have said, he is at this location, he is wanted for this, please act. And nothing ever seems to happen.
“We have no idea what else to do, but once he is out, we are going to carry on alerting the police, and we won’t stop until they act.”
After he was arrested and sent to the Al Awir prison, authorities confirmed to The Sun he had been apprehended on a private civil matter.
It proved once again that Andrews is a devious liar – after he told Katie he had been arrested for espionage.
“Lee saying he was arrested for spying is nothing new,” one of the women explained to me.
“It’s a claim directly out of his conman playbook.
“He’s said to everyone in this group at some point that he worked for the secret services. He bragged about being in MI5 in the UK.
“Lee would just tell so many lies. He told Katie he was an international arms dealer, too.
“By this point, we don’t think Lee would know what the truth is – even if he slapped him around the face.”
Previously, Andrews denied every claim made against him by the women who spoke out against him.
In the face of the weight of evidence they provided me with, including their bank statements and correspondence with their relevant police forces, Andrews stood firm and tried to paint them as scorned fantasists.
These women are nothing of the sort.
And I, along with my colleagues, will keep banging this drum until Andrews is locked up.
With any luck, they will throw away the key.