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Cheque Mate

19 Apr 2006

“I WAS looking through my chequebook and I noticed some were missing,” says Jade Goody. “Where the cheques are numbered like 003, 004, I noticed a jump to 006 then 0016.”
Jade looks a million lira
Jade is clearly not as dumb as she makes out.

The girl who asked “It’s Mona Lisa Who’s Symmetrical, Innit?" and who answered “Strawberries and spuds” when challenged to name two vegetables in the garden, realises that six rarely if ever comes right after 4.

Something is missing. And Jade’s bank have been helping her discover what this something is. The bank’s Fraud Investigation team has been studying Jade’s account for irregularities.

Has Jade cashed a cheque for £10,000? She cannot remember. What about one for £42,000? Think carefully, Jade. Celebrities often lead hedonistic lifestyles and £42,000 represents the price of a quiet night out with some Cristal champagne and kebabs.

But no, Jade is at a loss. The bank workers continue to look. Jade examines the chequebook some more and notes that some cheques have been “razored out”. And like a candle being lit in a barn, Jade understands. She has, as it is alleged, been robbed of as much as £500,000.

And the chief suspect is a man who, as Jade tells the Sun, “has spent a lot of time in my house”. The matter is now with the police, and having made a statement to the cops in Harlow, Essex, Jade is keen to talk.

“It’s a lot of money,” says she to the Sun. And it is. “I have been the victim of a theft from someone who I thought was quite close... It’s all the more upsetting when you think it’s somebody you can trust.”

Indeed it is. But perhaps yet more newsworthy than the theft is the story that Jade did not notice the money leaving her account.

Has the Big Brother star now accumulated so much cash that half a million quid can be filched from her stash and not adversely affect her standard of living?

The Sun thinks it is time to look at Jade’s assets – two fitness videos, a property portfolio worth £2million, columns in magazines, TV appearances and a beauty parlour in Hertford called Ugly’s.

The 25-year-old has made some “tictactical” investments. Which is all the more remarkable given that she has never had to get her kebabs out. All five of them...


http://www.anorak.co.uk//news.cfm?id=169468