Inside Richard Keys' luxury Qatar villa - including a model Titanic that could be a perfect metaphor for his doomed marriage sunk by a 28-year-old blonde lawyer

Richard Keys gave a tour of his luxury villa to BeIN sports before his divorce
He talks about his model Titanic, then a gift from his wife, now a metaphor
The former Sky Sports presenter now works for Al Jazeera sports in Qatar
Wife Julia confirmed their divorce last week after his affair with lawyer, 28

Published: 09:38 GMT, 25 February 2017 | Updated: 13:11 GMT, 25 February 2017

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The luxury villa in Qatar that is now home for Richard Keys may represent a new start for the former Sky Sports presenter.

But a large model of the Titanic, that was a gift from his wife, could be closer to a metaphor for his failed marriage than he would like as he gets on with life after divorce.

Last week, long-suffering wife of more than three decades Julia revealed the pair would be divorcing following his affair with lawyer Lucie Rose, who was once their daughter's best friend.

After his career in British sports TV ended, Richard was offered a lucrative role with beIN sports in Qatar

In a tour of his new villa, for a segment on the channel, Richard showed off a Titanic model which had been given to him by his wife

Lawyer Lucie Rose would visit the Keys in Qatar as a close friend of Jemma, their daughter, but she was actually getting close to Richard

Although the couple tried to stay together after she discovered his infidelity, it may have been an iceberg too big to tackle.

In a video feature for BeIN sports before their divorce, Richard takes the presenter around his villa, which is said to come free with his new job for Al Jazeera sports, which also gives him a £420,000 salary.

According to the Sun, it was here in Doha that Lucie and Richard first started flirting.

But it was as Julia, a relationship therapist, started writing a book on infidelity, that she realised the signs were there in her own marriage.

On holiday in Cornwall, she borrowed Richard's phone as he slept and began texting his lover.

In the clip, Richard tells the presenter the Titanic was a gift from his wife - perhaps now a perfect metaphor for their relationship

In happier times, the Keys on South Africa on the left, and on the right, the photos of Richard and Lucie that told her his affair wasn't over

She told the Mail On Sunday: 'I’d been working on this book about how to tell whether a man – it’s usually the man – is cheating,’ she sighs. ‘These men behave in a very predictable way. We call it the manscript.

‘I suddenly thought, “Hang on. I think something is going on with Richard.” There were classic symptoms: he was overprotective with his phone, the secret calls, the late-night texts quickly deleted.

'Women have a gut feeling and you should trust that.’

There was more, too: moody and preoccupied, Richard, she says, became angry and defensive when questioned, attempting to blame her for how she felt.

Lucie shared this picture enjoying the high life on her Facebook at the beginning of December last year

Daughter Jemma is said to be distraught that someone she classed as a friend could do this to her family. On the left, Richard with Julia and Jemma in 2007, and on the right, Richard Keys' daughter Jemma with Lucie Rose

Julia had played the role of doting wife throughout their marriage, even picking up her own life to move with him to Qatar after he was sacked from Sky Sports when audio was leaked of sexist comments he made about a female referee.

‘He was my husband and I felt I should be wherever he was,’ she told the Mail.

‘I didn’t want to go. There was very little for me to do. There were family issues at home and I had to return frequently to the UK because of family illness. I felt like I was being split in two. Richard blamed me and the family for taking me away from him, as if it was somehow my fault.’

Jemma, their actress daughter, made welcome visits to Qatar and they started to establish a social circle, including one of Jemma’s new friends, a young lawyer called Lucie Rose.

Often dressed in low-cut tops and figure-hugging skirts, social media pictures of her suggest that Lucie was no stranger to the party scene, yet Julia had never questioned her husband’s loyalty – until, in March last year, when she began working on her book with a friend. And suddenly, a jigsaw of disconnected pieces started moving into place.

She now even claims that this affair may not have been the first, and she has her suspicions that he has cheated before.

But she doesn't back the relationship to last.