Heather Mills' £250k holiday to paradise isle with new lover
13/07/2008
Heather Mills trip (Pic: SM)
Smitten Heather Mills has splashed out £250,000 on whisking her new lover to an exotic island hideaway.
Just seven weeks after they first met, Heather, 41, flew Jamie Walker, 36, away with her on holiday to the Caribbean.
And she also paid for 20 of her loyal staff and pals to join the week-long trip to Sir Richard Branson’s private island paradise of Necker.
Heather organised the five-star holiday to celebrate the imminent final decree absolute in her bitter £24.3million divorce from Sir Paul McCartney
But odd-job man and part-time DJ Jamie ended up on crutches – after spraining his ankle.
Heather snuggled up to him in the back of a speedboat as they left the island, before transferring to a private jet and flying home on Friday.
They met in Tenerife when Heather and daughter Bea were staying at the five-star Abama Hotel in Gula de Isora, where Jamie was working.
Heather and Jamie went on two dinner dates after chatting at the hotel’s kids club, where he helped look after her four-year-old daughter Bea.
He has since left Tenerife and moved in with Heather at her £3million home in Robertsbridge, East Sussex.
Jamie has been helping the team of workmen redecorate the nine-bedroom home.
Among the gang joining the couple on Necker were Heather’s interior designer Gabrielle Carr and her personal trainer Ben Amigoni.
Heather also took along her personal photographer Kevin Harper – who now reportedly travels with her – to document the week’s holiday.
A friend said: “Heather wanted to celebrate the divorce in style, and to thank everyone in Team
Heather who has supported her since the break-up.
“She asked the island’s staff to serve only vegan food and they all spent a lot of time water-skiing and on jet-skis.”
Hiring the island cost £24,000 a day, with a £10,000 private jet transfer on top and Upper Class flights to Antigua at more than £2,000 a person.
The holiday was timed to coincide with the end of the divorce battle, with a decree absolute due from the court any day.
Heather also took along her PA Andrea Stapleton, whose brother Marcus she was engaged to in 1995, her mum Daphne Stapleton and security guard Stuart Wicks.
Julia Quinn, a childhood friend from Washington, Newcastle, and her boyfriend were also guests, as was Heather’s sister Fiona and her partner David Arrondelle.
Heather also invited new pal Helen Bloomfield – who runs a vegetarian cafe in the seaside town of Rye, East Sussex, near her home – as well as Helen’s teenage son Jack.
Other guests included her long-standing pals Sheila and Stephen Macdonald, estate agent Maureen Hardy and Heather’s pal Natalie
Dean, who makes vegan shoes. Some of the party stayed in the island’s main house with Heather and the others were in five Balinese huts dotted around the resort with their own plunge pool and golf buggies to get around.
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Most spent the week enjoying the watersports, beauty spa and sunbathing.
A vegan banquet was held one night to celebrate the formal end of Heather’s four-year marriage.
During the holiday Heather and Jamie also made the most of the Love Temple – a hut on wooden stilts in the middle of the island with a king-size bed and butler service.
The Great House has 14 rooms with balconies and en-suite bathrooms, a games room and a personal chef.
The master suite, where Heather stayed, has a huge bed and a Jacuzzi on the balcony.
Heather’s pal said: “She’s had a difficult few years and wants to have fun – and with £24million on its way she can afford to.”
After they met in Tenerife, Jamie flew back to the UK to spend time with Heather, staying with her at her other home in Hove, Sussex, at the beginning of June. Since news of their fling broke four weeks ago, Jamie has opted to stay away from his hotel job to be at Heather’s side.
A hotel insider said: “The bosses quite liked the media attention because they thought it was good publicity.
“But Jamie thought it would be easier to get away and let all the fuss die down.
“Heather stepped in and offered him a bolthole.”
Heather’s reputation took a huge dent when it emerged she posed naked for a sex manual and was accused of having been a prostitute – claims she denies.
But the pal said: “Jamie knows all about Heather’s past and all he’s bothered about is the present.
“They are very happy together.”
Heather still has a number of loose ends to tie up following her acrimonious divorce.
Until recently, she was still understood to be running an overdraft at super-posh Coutts bank.
There was also a disputed £300,000 bill from her former divorce lawyers Mischon de Reya.
The firm parted company with Heather midway through the high-profile divorce case and it’s not known whether the bill has yet been settled.
In the divorce settlement, she was granted £150,000 a year to pay for holidays, instead of the £500,000 which she had asked for to pay for private jets and helicopters for herself and Bea.
The pal said: “The cost of the Necker trip was way in excess of £150,000 – around £100,000 in excess of it.
“But it was a one-off celebration for the people around her, so from her point of view it was well worth it.”
The fabulous island has been a haunt of the super-rich since airline tycoon Sir Richard bought it in 1976.
Previous guests include Eddie Murphy, Mariah Carey, Princess Diana, Annie Lennox, Harrison Ford and Robert de Niro.