Welcome for Jade Goody's sons

Kathryn Cross

There will always be a welcome in Norfolk for Jade Goody's sons, the uncle of her fianc� Jack Tweed has said.

Graham Tweed, who lives at Saham Toney in Watton, said five-year-old Bobby and four-year-old Freddie were “great fun” and had an open invitation to stay at his home with or without their cancer-stricken mum.

The reality star is due to marry his nephew Jack at an Essex country house hotel tomorrow. Doctors have given Jade just weeks to live after they told her the cervical cancer she was fighting was terminal.

But she has been putting all her energy into organising the wedding which is expected to be attended by 300 guests and is understood to be fetching close to �1 million in broadcast and magazine rights.

Mr Tweed, the 47-year-old millionaire chief executive of a number of home and overseas firms including Sabrefix UK in Watton, opened his doors to Jade and Jack two years ago as a refuge from the race row sparked by their appearance on Celebrity Big Brother with Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.

He said she was a “normal 27-year-old girl with two kids” and while he said they were all still hoping for a miracle, when the time came the whole family would rally round with support and he would always welcome the children back to Norfolk. “They were great fun when they stayed here and we liked them a lot,” he said.

“We are a protective family and we stick together. My mother died of cancer when I was 15 and it tore through her in such a short time so my brother (Jack's father) and I have been through this before.

“Like her or hate her you can see in Jade's pictures now that the cancer has ravaged her in a few weeks

“Most people have a story in their family of someone who died of the disease and it is OK to see it happening. It does not mean we can stop it but how else can you explain what is happening. I don't think it is ugly, it is part of life.”

He said his family was quite small but they would all be at the wedding and celebrating a marriage not preparing for a death.

“It will be emotional, but all weddings are,” he said. “We are celebrating them getting married. Jack lost a grandmother and now it looks like he will lose his wife and that is a lot to take for a young kid but we will worry about that when it happens.”

He said he was pleased to hear that the Ministry of Justice would lift a curfew imposed on Jack when he was released from Wayland prison to allow him to stay at the reception until 3pm on Monday. Jack was jailed for 18 months last September after assaulting a teenager with a golf club but he was released early last month on condition he wears a tag and returns to his mother's house in Essex by 7pm each day.

A spokesperson said a discussion with the prison's governor determined that it was an “exceptional case”.

Mr Tweed said he hoped Jack had learned his lesson and he had been a very “stupid kid who is still growing up”.

“Should he have gone to prison? Yes. He now realises when it is time to leave things alone. If someone had told him he would go to jail for this he would never have done it but he has got a temper and he is very protective of Jade so if some idiots want to launch attacks on her he will defend her. But he needs to learn not to retaliate.”

It is understood Jade's estate will be in Jack's name for seven years to avoid inheritance tax before it passes to her children and she has spoken of her desire to earn as much money as possible in the time she has left so they can have a good education.

Mr Tweed said that all the money in the world could not buy her the tablets she needed to save her life.

“It is awful that she should have it so young,” he said. “We lost our mum at a young age and we know what it is like and it will be a shock for Jack and the boys to lose someone so young because there will be plenty of times when you wish they were still there.”