For many, it has been like watching a bad crime drama – but for the loved ones of Lee Andrews, his disappearance is a nightmare from which they are yet to awake.

Lee’s wife, Katie Price, has been vocal since he went missing six days ago. Then, on Sunday, in a bizarre turn of events, she claimed he had been ‘kidnapped’.

The troubled glamour model, 47, last spoke to her husband when he was trying to board a 10pm flight from Dubai to Britain on Wednesday last week. They were due to appear on Good Morning Britain for their first joint interview since their marriage in January.

Katie went on to claim that Lee, a self-styled businessman and entrepreneur, told her he was being ‘captured or arrested’. He claimed he had a ‘hood on’, she said, and that his ‘hands were tied’, before telling his new wife: ‘They’re coming back for me.’

Lee’s concerned family and friends have been left frustrated by Katie’s public claims, however.

In an exclusive interview, Lee’s childhood friend Rebecca Smith, who is still close to the Andrews family, said: ‘We are all sick with worry. His mother has been on the phone with me in tears.’

Rebecca, 45, grew up with Lee and his sister, Kelly, in the Nottinghamshire village of Edwinstowe. They attended the same primary and secondary schools, and Rebecca would often spend time at Lee’s house after lessons.

Today, loyal to a fault, she takes aim at Katie – who married after a whirlwind romance – for publicising her claims that Lee has been kidnapped.

‘They are a very close family,’ Rebecca continued. ‘Kelly has taken the lead and is the one communicating with Katie and the Dubai police. She is trying to take the strain off her mother, Trisha, and I’m trying to support both of them through this worrying time.

‘Kelly wasn’t happy with the video Katie put out about him being kidnapped. That blew everything up and it was unnecessary.’

Lee’s mother, Trisha Andrews, 61 –  a spiritual medium – has also made her feelings clear, accusing Katie of ‘exploiting’ her son.

Underneath a Facebook post promoting her live clairvoyance show, one fan wrote: ‘Think everyone needs to leave her [Trisha] alone as she’s not responsible for Price’s drama-queen antics.’

Trisha responded with a message reading: ‘Thank you, Jane. It’s Katie exploiting and I get all the backlash.’

Katie has since taken to YouTube, hitting out at claims Lee’s disappearance is a publicity stunt.

Filmed at home, and still wearing her wedding ring, she said: ‘I’m really upset everyone thinks I’m in on this. Are you guys actually joking?’

Reacting to reports that Lee has faked his disappearance and is hiding from the cameras in a run-down villa in the UAE, Katie told fans: ‘This is not a publicity stunt. This is real. And anyone who thinks that I’m part of this is disgusting.

‘None of his family has heard anything from Lee. His dad, who’s out in Dubai, has heard nothing. We’ve reported him to the British Embassy as a missing person.

‘Everyone who is trying to speculate or make jokes, think of other people’s feelings. It is not nice. It isn’t a game, it is real life.

‘This is really happening, and there are real feelings involved here.’

The past few days have certainly been tough for Lee’s close family. Long-time friend Rebecca Smith said that she ‘feels bad for Katie and hopes she gets answers soon’.

But she also told me that, amid publicity generated by the glamour model’s YouTube updates, Lee’s relatives have experienced horrific trolling, with many demanding to know why the family hasn’t flown to Dubai to look for him.

But as Rebecca explains: ‘People don’t have the money to fly out there. His family and friends are normal people who work regular jobs. Of course they care that he is missing, but going to Dubai is expensive.

‘The whole situation is so upsetting for them. They are trying to stay off social media now.

‘The lack of empathy and compassion in some of the online comments is honestly heartbreaking. Behind every post is a family hoping for answers. Seeing cruel jokes online only adds to their pain.

‘Lee has been a loyal, caring and genuine friend to me and I will continue to stand by and support him.’

Lee’s family and friends are yet to meet his new wife, but say that Lee ‘spoke very highly of her and is madly in love’.

Accusations against the businessman have mounted up ever since his ten-day romance with Katie culminated in marriage.

First, his ex-fiancee Alana Percival claimed he had defrauded numerous women out of money totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds – an allegation that Lee has denied.

Then some of his more outlandish claims came under scrutiny: that he has a PhD from Cambridge, for example; that he has worked with both Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk; and that he was preparing to buy Chelsea FC.

Lee attracted further attention when he joined the OnlyFans adult content app last month, creating an account to sell photos and videos of himself.

‘At the moment, Lee’s mother is getting a lot of backlash, but she is a mother worried about where her son is,’ continued Rebecca. ‘She is concerned about what Lee has reportedly been involved with. But we need to find him and then deal with that. We need to get him back.

‘Lee is a private person. He keeps a lot to himself. They don’t know what he has been involved in.

‘He is a real person, and not AI-generated like everyone thinks. And Trisha and Kelly [his mother and sister] are both lovely people. Trisha has a heart of gold.’

Lee had been due to travel back to the UK last week but failed to get on the flight, later claiming he had ‘things to do’ – while insisting that he still planned to come.

Lee has firmly denied reports that he is restricted by a travel ban from the UAE.

Katie has since filed a missing person’s report, telling fans that ‘no one can find him in any prison, any police station. The police can’t find any record of him.’

After contacting the head of the Criminal Investigations Department in Dubai, Katie established that her husband had not been detained by the authorities. They, too, have been unable to locate him.

Despite confessing her fears for Lee’s safety, it was just hours later that Katie shared a more upbeat set of posts, including a link to her OnlyFans account and, later, a photo of a trip to the cinema with her son, Harvey.

On Monday, rather than launching another plea to the public for information about her missing husband, Katie posted a photo of new beds arriving at her house, calling it an ‘exciting day’.

Last week, Katie admitted that her four-month marriage to Lee was unfolding like a ‘soap opera’, each twist more incredible than the last.

After months of defending the man accused of defrauding women, we revealed that Katie has grown ‘sceptical’ about Lee’s motives.

‘For a few months, Katie went along for the ride,’ an insider close to Katie told the Daily Mail. ‘She loves the publicity and the attention, and she’s always been happy to create a bit of a pantomime around her life, but on this occasion she’s started to realise she’s been stung.’

In recent days, it has been reported that the Dubai-based businessman is wanted by Interpol after Hertfordshire Police – who had been previously investigating claims from an ex-girlfriend – stepped up their investigation.

A heartbroken Katie is said to have been on the phone to lawyers in the past 24 hours.

Almost one week since Lee Andrews’s shock disappearance – and amid growing questions – his family, friends, and wife are united in a desperate search for answers.