The strange story of her beloved Audi, a crashed BMW courtesy car and a convicted killer is anything but make-believe
Fun: Tulisa at wheel of her beloved sports car
It could easily come from the desperately complicated plot of a blockbuster movie.
But
for Tulisa Contostavlos the strange story of her beloved Audi, a
crashed BMW courtesy car and a convicted killer is anything but
make-believe.
It emerged last week that former X Factor judge
Tulisa was furious after an offensive word was keyed into the purple
paintwork of her £100,000 Audi R8 supercar.
Then it was reported she had crashed the courtesy car into a tree as she swerved to miss a deer.
But
today The Sunday Mirror can reveal a more complicated tale that
provides a glimpse into the life of the former golden girl of Saturday
night TV. Vandalised: Star's Audi with taunt on the body
The saga begins last month when Tulisa, 25, was visiting Manchester and the word SLAG appeared on her Audi.
Tulisa
turned to friends for help and the motor was taken to Elliotts Car Hire
in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. Staff there agreed to repair the damage
for free as they “felt sorry for her”.
They also lent Tulisa a £48,000 BMW X6 courtesy car when she said she needed to get back to London urgently.
Then a week later Tulisa told the garage she had crashed the BMW.
According
to sources close to Elliotts, the shaken star said she was driving
along a country lane when she was forced to swerve to avoid an oncoming
driver.
But that story seems to contradict the later version of events from Tulisa when she said she swerved to miss a deer. Wreck: The BMW that star crashed is unloaded at garage
She told Elliotts staff that she had arranged for a friend
who lived near the accident scene and owned a garage to collect the
damaged car.
The Sunday Mirror has established the crash happened
on isolated Croxtie Green Road in countryside outside Brentwood, Essex,
just before 3am on July 28.
But what makes the circumstances more unusual is that Tulisa did not contact the garage until almost 12 hours AFTER the crash.
A
source said: “It’s strange that the driver waited more than 12 hours
before contacting the garage. You would expect someone to call the
police or insurers as soon as they could once they had an accident.”
An
Essex police spokesman confirmed to us that at 9.40am on July 28 they
received reports of an abandoned vehicle in Croxtie Green Road. They
found the car before Tulisa contacted Elliotts. Smashed: Windscreen
But the authorities did not contact the garage until after Tulisa had done so.
The star insists she parked the BMW properly and arranged its recovery as soon as possible.
Meanwhile
the police contacted the local authority to arrange removal but it had
already been moved when Brentwood Council workers arrived at the scene
on July 30.
During a conversation with Elliotts Tulisa apparently
offered to pay the insurance policy excess direct but was told she
should speak to her own insurers.
We are told that at this stage
staff at the garage started to worry about who was going to pay for the
damaged car, which they recovered to their Manchester base.
It was
a write-off with a crumpled wing, smashed windscreen and rear window
and other damage. The story then takes a bizarre twist with a man
claiming to be acting on
Tulisa’s behalf turning up at the garage
to demand her Audi back.We can reveal this man is a convicted killer who
was jailed for five years after he beat to death a father of two in
front of his family while he waited at a taxi rank.
The killer –
who we are not naming – later had his sentence extended after he
threatened revenge on a key witness who testified against him.
After
being told the garage would not hand over the Audi until Tulisa
arranged for the courtesy car to be paid for, the killer allegedly sent a
message to a member of staff saying he wanted it “no matter what”.
The
garage complained to Tulisa’s solicitors – who had got involved over
the return of the Audi – about the killer’s approach. The criminal
phoned to complain about his name being given and then claimed he had
spoken to Tulisa, who had asked him to back off. A source said:
“Although he did not issue any threats it was a bit intimidating.
“The
garage did Tulisa a favour by lending her this courtesy car and not
only does it get smashed up but some heavy then turns up demanding her
own car back.
“When the garage later found out this bloke was a killer you can imagine how concerned the staff were.”
Tulisa
denies instructing anyone to intercede on her behalf. It has also
emerged that the man involved is a friend of a friend of hers who
approached the garage without her knowledge.
Confused by the turn
of events the garage was not keen to release Tulisa’s repaired Audi. But
after contact from her solicitors it returned the car to a friend of
the star’s.
The complex story emerges after Tulisa’s manager said
he feared the singer was considering suicide after allegations that she
was involved in a £800 cocaine deal.
Jonathan Shalit said Tulisa “thought her life was over” when she was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs.
He said at the Edinburgh international television festival: “She got to the point I was worried she would commit suicide.
“I
made sure someone was at her house for two consecutive nights to make
sure she did nothing stupid, because she was at that point where she
genuinely thought that her life was over.”
Tulisa, who sang with
London band N-Dubz, is on police bail and waiting to see if she will
face charges. She denies any wrongdoing.
She has now apparently paid the garage the excess on her insurance policy. She also has her repaired Audi back.
The reasons for the Audi being vandalised and the facts behind the crash in the Essex lane are still unclear.
Her
spokesman said last night: “In relation to this matter, Tulisa has
behaved appropriately throughout and any allegations to the contrary are
now in the hands of her lawyers.”
Elliots declined to comment last night.
