Sons of Abrahams' fake wife reveal bizarre life of funding-scandal developer

Dodgy donor dozed on bed of dosh

He stuffed notes in mattress, jilted bride on wedding day & kept life-sized Elvis dummy

By Amanda Evans

THE millionaire at the centre of Labour's dodgy donations scandal SLEPT on a bed of money, the News of the World can reveal.

David Abrahams, 63, hid bundles of banknotes in his mattress while living with a bogus wife.

It was just one aspect of the weird and wacky world of the reclusive property developer—exposed today by the woman's sons.

David and Jarrod Bailey told the last night how Mr Abrahams:

JILTED their divorced mother Anthea on the morning of their wedding.

NEVER had sex with her.

PASSED OFF Anthea as his wife and David and Jarrod as his sons to Labour bosses in a bid to become an MP.

KEPT a life-size stature of Elvis Presley in his hallway.

BANNED meat in his house.

DRANK cabbage water.

CRIED a lot.

David, 27, found the cash stash after Abrahams befriended his mum and moved the family into his £750,000 mansion in Gosforth, Newcastle, in 1989.

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He recalled: "I was just being a boy—looking for something or a place to hide something.

"It was a big bedroom with nice furnishings and when I lifted up the corner of the mattress and saw the cash, my jaw dropped. I was amazed.

Bundles

"There must have been a dozen bundles neatly laid out in single piles in a big square.

"Some had red paper bands over them. I don't know how much there was, but looking back they could well have been in bundles of a thousand pounds. It took my breath away.

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"I was curious, so I picked up one bundle to take a closer look. I had never seen so much money in my life.

"It might have been rent money or cash he just hadn't got round to taking to the bank.

"I would never have dreamt of taking any of the cash myself.

"When I went back to take another peek the next day, the money had gone.

"Maybe I had put a bundle back in the wrong place or something and he may have noticed and decided to put it somewhere else. But he never mentioned anything about it."

Geordie Abrahams tried to present Anthea as his wife and her boys as his sons.

But he broke her heart by dumping her just hours before they were to wed.He even sent one of his business pals gave the bombshell news.

David said: "Mum was devastated. The associate had come to the door and explained to my uncle it was off and he told mum. I remember her standing there in her Winnie the Pooh jumper with panda eyes where she'd been crying so much.

"She'd even signed a pre-nuptual agreement, so she wasn't marrying him for the money— she was after some security.

"I felt very let down by him.We were a real family unit. I was very upset when it ended."

Anthea—a former Miss Shell model—later confided in her elder son Jarrod that she and Abrahams NEVER had sex.

Jarrod, 36, a geneticist, said: "Mum was at pains to point out to me their relationship wasn't physical. She said they didn't have sex. I thought it was a little bit strange, but they seemed to get on very well."

It emerged this week that Abrahams—who has sparked a storm by giving more than £650,000 in secret payments to the Labour party—used Anthea in a bid to become an MP. She stood at his side at a selection meeting in Richmond, North Yorks., in 1991 so he could "create the right impression" to committee members.

But he was dropped as a candidate when officials discovered Anthea was NOT married to him.

Ring

David, who was just 10 at the time, explained how he was asked to call Abrahams "dad" in front of party members.

His mum would also turn round a huge emerald engagement ring on her finger to make it look like a wedding band.

Dad-of-three David, from Penrith, Cumbria—who runs his own car paint-spraying business—added that life in Abrahams' home was always full of bizarre surprises.

He recalled: "It was a really big house and it was quite bizarre going in. The first thing I can remember is a life-size paper-mache statue of Elvis Presley in the hallway. He paid a lot of money for it—I think about £2,000.

"It had a pink jacket with a shirt on with red checks. quite bizarre. I remember thinking ‘Wow Elvis is in the building'."

David said Abrahams was a vegetarian who ate fish and employed two women to do his cleaning and cooking.

He added: "He would get them to boil him some cabbage water, which he would drink.

"He swore it cleansed the system and was healthy. Mum just called it green dye.

"And he wouldn't allow meat in the house. The people who ran the corner shop used to laugh as I would sneak out and buy some chicken wings.

" I would ride round the block on my bike eating the chicken." David was sent to private school—paid for by Abrahams—and he and his mum would accompany the businessman to a synagogue every Saturday.

He added: "He used to lavish gifts on me. I'd come in from school and he would have bought me trainers and tracksuits laid on my bed. He also used to treat me to skateboards.

"When I used to go round with him collecting rents, he always used to give me some cash on the side.

Cheques

"Once my mum counted 18 or 20,000-pounds worth of cheques in his tracksuit bottoms one Friday after he'd been collecting.

"He spent God knows what on converting his attic into a granny flat for me. He said he was planning for the future."

Yet despite his obvious wealth, Abrahams would drive around in a battered Y-reg Volvo 240GL to help promote his family image. David said Abrahams—whose late father had been Lord Mayor of Newcastle—was very ambitious and obsessed by politics.

He said: "Me, mum and David used to travel round a lot-stay in hotels at the weekends and travel to elections-including Scarborough.

"I always used to be introduced as David Abrahams' son at all these meetings and elections. It became a regular family routine.

"My mum and David were like a working team. Mum was very good at making speeches.

"She used to write all his speeches and David was like a kid in a toy shop when he read some of the stuff she'd written."

David recalled how some of the rooms in Abrahams's home were stacked high with boxes of papers.

"He was a real hoarder." he continued. "I think he kept all of his father's papers, and he would leave scribbled notes everywhere."

Abrahams was also a very emotional man and the boys saw him cry on several occasions.

David said: "I think he wants to follow in his father's footsteps and it must be frustrating for him as he's this millionaire who can't get where he wants to be—in the Labour party.

"He was a bit of a Walter Mitty character and had a few odd habits, but I never thought he would get embroiled in such a dramatic scandal. He was such an unassuming character.

"I think he's been a bit naive as it does all look a bit dodgy giving money under other people's names.

Driven

"But I don't think he was trying to get one over on the government as he spent most of his life—since he was 15-trying to get in with them.

"He loves the Labour party and don't think he'd want to damage it's reputation at all."

David's half-brother Jarrod added: "He wanted to be an MP. He was very driven to become a MP.

"He just wanted to give money anonymously to a party which is very dear to him."