Faith's widow pays for his debt

It was heartbreaking enough when her beloved husband collapsed and died at the age of 62.

Then Adam Faith's widow Jackie had to cope with discovering that he suffered his fatal heart attack while sharing a bed with his young mistress.

Now she has revealed she is being forced out of the marital home because of the debts the singer and actor left behind.

Jackie, 60, said the sudden death of her husband, who was once worth £40million but was declared bankrupt months before he died in March, means she must also give up many private mementos to keep the bailiffs away.

She is having to leave her rented five bedroom farmhouse in the picturesque village of Tudeley, Kent, and admits she is unsure where she will live.

"I'll be living in a cardboard box on the Outer Hebrides," she said as she stood among packed bags on her final weekend at her home.

"I cannot afford to stay here because of the money situation and by the time things are finished I won't be able to afford a cardboard box, let alone a house.

"The insolvency people want half of everything - even the paltry life insurance policy. I am moving back up North to be with my family.

"It's such a happy house and we were so happy here that I would not stay here even if I could afford it, because of the memories.

"I keep expecting him to walk around the kitchen door and say 'all right Jacks?'."

Faith's pop career kicked off in 1959 with the No 1 What Do You Want, followed by a string of hits in the Sixties.

He went on to star in the TV series Budgie and Love Hurts and made a fortune through various business ventures.

But he lost it when his digital television venture Money Channel went into receivership in May 2001.

Jackie said she expected anything of value that she shared with her husband to be taken from her.

"He was made bankrupt and the insolvency people came and looked at all our things just after Christmas," she said.

"They bought a valuer and she made a note of anything that they thought might be of value.

"One of the things they took was a limited edition David Hockney print called My Mother With A Parrot.

"There are so many memories and sentimental items about which I am the only person who knows the story.

"I am really upset as there are things like furniture we bought together, knick-knacks from trips away and just things that remind me of happy times. I am going to lose those but I am resigned to it.

"I haven't dealt with the insolvency people directly and I don't know the timetable for everything.

"They seem to move so slowly and it is terrible not knowing what I will have left.

"It takes ages to write a letter then to receive a reply. This will be my last weekend at the house, I have just come back to pick up a few of the things.

It will be a sad goodbye and I don't know what the future will hold."

Jackie was dating Cliff Richard when she met Faith. They married in 1967 and had a daughter, Katya, three years later.

But the marriage was rocked by Faith's inability to stay faithful.

There was a two-year fling with tennis player Chris Evert, while allegations of an affair with actress Louise Lombard led to Faith announcing he was separating from his wife in 1995.

The couple never divorced, however, and after seven years apart they got back together.

Faith does not appear to have changed his ways though.

After appearing in the play Love And Marriage in Stoke-on-Trent on March 8, he was in his hotel room with 23-year-old mistress Tanya Arpino when he collapsed from a heart attack. He died hours later in hospital.

Miss Arpino has said she and Faith were "soulmates".

His wife said: "I know the girl and what she says is of no consequence to me. She is a fantasist."

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