Inside the life of Sarah Ferguson’s killer ex-aide Jane Andrews
SHE once enjoyed a life of glamour that saw her rub shoulders with senior royals, jet across the world and flirt with wealthy men.
But today, Sarah Ferguson’s “bunny boiler” ex-dresser Jane Andrews is stacking shelves at Morrisons after serving prison time for murder.
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Andrews, 53, was caged for life in 2001 for brutally killing her millionaire tycoon boyfriend with a cricket bat and knife after he refused to wed.
And for former employer Fergie, the murder was a horrific shock that followed years of close friendship and far-flung adventures with Andrews.
“For nine years, they were absolute best buddies, they went through all these adventures together,” royal expert Adam Helliker tells Sun Online.
“Jane began to imitate every quirky thing about Fergie.
“You could have mistaken them for a pair of sisters, in a way.”
The killing was also a bloody end to the luxury lifestyle Andrews had so badly craved as a child growing up in a working-class home in Lincolnshire.
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Troubled childhood
Born in Cleethorpes in 1967, Andrews had a troubled upbringing - one that experts say would have tugged on the heart strings of kind-hearted Fergie.
Though her parents worked as a carpenter and social worker, the family was debt-ridden, eventually relocating to a modest home in nearby Grimsby.
In her teens, Andrews suffered from panic attacks, depression and a recurrent eating disorder, according to a 2003 report by The Guardian.
She also played truant from school.
When she was 15, she took an overdose after her mum heard about her absences from the classroom, and was found collapsed in bed.
“I was fading in and out of consciousness,” Andrews later recalled.
She survived, but aged 17, she fell pregnant. Then a fashion student at college, she had an abortion in an ordeal she later branded “traumatising”.
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Dream palace job
From an early age, Andrews is said to have been desperate to escape her working-class existence - and The Lady magazine helped her do just that.
She was 21 when she replied to an anonymous ad for a personal dresser in the high-society title - which turned out to be a posting for Fergie.
Six months later, she attended an interview with the Duchess of York herself. And after making an impression with Fergie, the job was hers.
Jane was very ordinary but ambitious. She answered that advertisement and her life completely changed
Adam Helliker
“Jane was very ordinary but ambitious,” royal expert Adam tells us. “She answered that advertisement in The Lady and her life completely changed.”
He adds that Andrews’s background wouldn’t have put the Duchess off hiring her - because Fergie wants to “understand and help” others.
“The moment that Jane mentioned that she’d had an abortion, eating disorders… a suicide attempt, Fergie would have felt drawn in,” says Adam, who has met Andrews several times during his career.
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Andrews started her role at Buckingham Palace in 1988 - the same year the then-married Duchess gave birth to eldest daughter Princess Beatrice.
She is said to have been paid a “nominal” sum for her work - around £18,000 a year. Yet the perks of her new royal job were massive.
Responsible for sorting out Fergie’s wardrobe, the former Grimsby College of Art student was soon mixing in sophisticated and wealthy circles.
Rubbing shoulders with royalty
She dropped her Grimsby accent for a refined one, spent time with Princess Diana, and developed a colourful love life - reportedly even having an affair with a bodyguard attached to the Royal Family.
She also became “firm friends” with Fergie, Adam says.
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The pair would go swimming together in a palace pool, and Andrews would accompany Fergie on foreign trips - including to Washington DC.
“Jane just revelled in this new status and this new friendship,” Adam says.
“They would go everywhere together.”
According to royal experts, the Duchess is known for treating her staff members like friends in a departure from the stuffy Royal regime.
Jane just revelled in this new status and this new friendship. She and Fergie would go everywhere together
Adam Helliker
And during her time with Fergie, Andrews - who once described her job as “intense” and ’24/7′ - reportedly became obsessed with her employer.
It is even suggested she tried to imitate Fergie’s style, hair and traits.
Eventually, Andrews’s transformation into a polished, posh-sounding royal dresser saw the Duchess refer to her by the nickname ‘Lady Jane’.
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It was a glamorous new life Andrews could have once only dreamed of.
As her former college lecturer Irene Smith previously told The Telegraph: “I had no doubt when I was teaching her that she would move on quickly.
“She knew what she wanted in life, and she had a particular style. She desperately wanted to get on. She was really, really determined to succeed.”
Wealthy lovers
During her time working for Fergie, Andrews met and married IBM executive Christopher Dunn-Butler, who was 20 years her senior.
However, their marriage broke down within five years.
Andrews - who has been described as a callous “social climber” and a “flirt” - later admitted she’d had a “couple of flings” she wasn’t proud of.
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While working as the Duchess’s dresser, Andrews was also hit by allegations she was stealing from Fergie - though they were never proven.
Then, in 1997, Andrews unexpectedly lost her job in a cost-cutting drive. Despite the dismissal, she and Fergie are said to have remained close.
“They still had that relationship,” says Adam.
“I don’t think they ever really fell out.”
But for Andrews, the loss of her role - and its perks - was devastating. Observers said she was heartbroken, and she struggled to get over it.
From heartbreak to new romance
In 1998, she met and began a romance with successful businessman Tom Cressman - which allowed her to stay linked to the high-society world.
Tom’s father, Harry Cressman, later told reporters: “She had obviously lived a high life for quite a number of years in the Royal household.
“I think she looked upon Tom as someone who couldn’t replace that, but would do his damnedest to bring her a little near to it again.”
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Cold-blooded killing
Andrews moved into the former stockbroker’s home in Fulham, west London, but in September 2000, when he refused to marry her, she murdered him.
Furious at being rejected, she bludgeoned Tom, 39, with a cricket bat while he slept, before plunging a kitchen knife into his chest.
She then fled the grisly scene and vanished for four days - prompting Fergie to leave two voicemail messages pleading with her to hand herself in.
She was eventually found in a “distressed” state in her car in Cornwall.
She murdered him in life and murdered him again in death by trying to ruin his reputation
Supt Jim Dickie
In May 2001, Andrews - later diagnosed with borderline personality disorder - was convicted of Tom’s murder, despite making vile attempts to damage his reputation.
She had tried to claim in court that her lover had abused her, and even declared he “must have come forward on to the knife in the dark”.
However, jurors at the Old Bailey saw through her lies, and she was jailed for life.
Supt Jim Dickie, who led the murder inquiry, said: “She murdered [Tom] in life and murdered him again in death by trying to ruin his reputation.”
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Prison escape
Behind bars, Andrews was known as “Fergie’s bird” among inmates.
In 2009, she escaped from a Kent open prison and, covered in mud, met her parents in a graveyard in the dead of night. She then contacted a taxi driver who told The Sun.
We tipped off police and she was seized.
In 2015, 14 years into her life term, Andrews was released from prison.
But she was caged again in 2018 for breaching her licence amid claims she harassed a married man. Police investigated the claims, but took no action.
Between the two prison spells, Andrews had raked in at least £500-a-month in sales flogging Royal memorabilia at a stall inside an antiques centre.
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Now, back on the streets again, she is earning £8.50-an-hour at Morrisons as a Covid key worker - something that has infuriated Tom’s grieving family.
His brother Rick blasted: “She’s no key worker. She’s a murderer.”
While Andrews is working a normal job, she goes by a new name and must reveal details of future romances after a Parole Board identified “risk factors” over her relationships with men. Exes have described her as a “bunny boiler”.
Fergie ‘always forgives’
As for Andrews’s former friendship with Fergie, Adam says he wouldn’t be surprised if the “charitable” Duchess met with her ex-dresser in the future.
“Fergie’s nature is to always forgive, always look for the best in people, which is endearing,” the royal expert tells us.
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“She’s completely forgiving. She’s warm and willing to be a good friend to anyone. [She has] a genuine charitable nature.”
But for Rick, 66, “devious” Andrews’s new, rebuilt life is one that she doesn’t deserve, after she so violently ripped away his brother’s.
“She has never once in two decades apologised to my family,” he said.
“I doubt she has got any idea of the hurt and sadness she has caused.”