Freddie Starr told his ex-chauffeur he’d had ‘enough of life’ in haunting call just a month before he died and claimed: ‘Everyone hates me’
The comic was found dead at his Spanish home aged 76 last week, having spent the last few years of his life as a virtual recluse
FREDDIE Starr’s ex-chauffeur today claimed the comic told him he "had enough of life" in a haunting phone call just a month before his death.
Dean Egan, 47, revealed how the popular comic turned virtual recluse also confided fears that "nobody likes me" in the UK.
Starr, 76, was found dead in his Spanish home last week - with family revealing he had been "devastated" after he was arrested four times but never charged over sexual harassment allegations.
Mr Egan, who claims he drove Starr around for a number of years in the early 2000s, said the hellraiser comic had been "down" when he called him just last month.
He said: "He was definitely down.
“I offered to get a flight in to see him – he was saying ‘nobody likes me in the UK’.
“I told him everyone adored him. I said 'You think people believe what police have said but they don’t'."
He added: "He kept saying he had had enough of life."
Initial reports have suggested that Starr died of a heart attack, but this has not been confirmed.
Close pal Mr Egan said Starr had struggled with his career's nosedive in 2012 after he became embroiled in Opertation Yewtree when Karin Ward accused him of putting a hand up her skirt on Savile’s BBC show Clunk Click in 1974.
Starr's sister yesterday said the claims had killed her brother, saying he had never "properly recovered". The family now hopes he will be buried with his mum Hilda in Huyton, Merseyside.
And Mr Egan, who lives in Birmingham, added: "He may have died of a heart attack, but the thing that killed him was Yewtree.”
The chauffeur said he had even advised the controversial comic to seek out a hypnotherapist who could help him forget the pain from the past decade.
Freddie was saying ‘nobody likes me in the UK’
Dean Egan
Dean said: “I told him ‘this is what you’ve got to do – you’ve got to get this out of your head’.
“’Find a good hypnotherapist in Spain and ask her to erase that part of your life’.”
Starr had previously claimed he lost a fortune over historic sexual abuse allegations, with his firm wound up with debts of £19,000.
After being faced with allegations of sexually abusing Ms Ward, Starr had tried to sue her at the High Court for slander and libel.
He claimed comments she made to the BBC, ITV and statements on a website and in an eBook saw him lose £300,000 in earnings from cancelled shows.
But Mr Justice Nicole dismissed Starr’s compensation claim because it was outside the limitation period.
Today, Mr Egan maintained his friend’s innocence, saying: “I spent that much time with the guy, he was great.
“With children, he was absolutely fantastic.
“He was a lovely man.”
He said that Freddie had been feeling lonely when he called him, saying he barely left his Costa del Sol home.
RECLUSIVE LIFE
It comes after one of Starr's neighbours at his two-bed £170,000 home said Starr would “look the other way” on the rare occasions he saw him because of the debt feud.
Another neighbour added: “He never mixed with anybody in the all the time he lived here.
“I saw him walking up and down once or twice but he never communicated with anyone.
“There’s four communal pools on the complex but I never saw him use any of them."
Mr Egan said he regularly collected letters for Starr as he waited for him, with the popular comic telling him “anything lingerie wise can you put in the nearest bin”.
Dean, who works with Collier & McBride Funeral Directors, said the West Bromwich firm was keen to help repatriate Starr’s body after it emerged his family might not be able to cover the cost.
The offer is just one of many that have inundated Starr's family after his death.
The 54-year-old, who runs Sheffield's Michael Fogg Family Funeral Directors, decided to step up after reading Starr had died.
Freddie’s passport expired in April, which also makes repatriation a little more complicated, but not impossible.
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