Rebecca Jane
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{short description|British politician}}
{{About|the politician|the footballer|Becky Jane}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Rebecca Jane
| image =
| caption =
| office = UK Independence Party#Deputy leadership
| leader = Neil Hamilton
| term_start = 17 October 2022
| term_end = 20 January 2024
| predecessor = Pat Mountain
| successor = Nick Tenconi
| party = UK Independence Party (UKIP)
| birth_name = Rebecca Jane Sutton
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|25|2010|11|24}}
| birth_place = Barrowford, Lancashire, England
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|James|2005|end=div}} | {{marriage|Ben Dowlers||2015|end=div}}}}
| children = 2
}}
Rebecca Jane Sutton ({{nee}} Sutton-Gregory; born {{birth based on age as of date|25|2010|11|24|noage=1}}) is a British media personality, solicitor, businesswoman and former politician who was deputy leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from October 2022 to January 2024.{{cite web |url=https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2024/01/5181/ |title=UKIP loses Deputy Leader as Rebecca Jane resigns |date=22 January 2024 |website=searchlightmagazine.com |publisher=Searchlight Magazine |access-date=22 January 2024}}
Life and career
=Early life and ''The Real Lady Detective Agency''=
Rebecca Jane Sutton{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2017-07-18b.274.1|title=I beg to move, That this House has...: 18 Jul 2017: Westminster Hall debates|publisher=TheyWorkForYou|access-date=8 June 2023|archive-date=15 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715221618/https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2017-07-18b.274.1|url-status=live}} was born in Barrowford, Lancashire, England. She once worked as a Marilyn Monroe lookalike,{{cite web |date=24 November 2010 |title=10 friends form East Lancashire lady detective agency |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8685635.10-friends-form-east-lancashire-lady-detective-agency/ |access-date=8 June 2023 |work=Lancashire Telegraph |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618214332/https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8685635.10-friends-form-east-lancashire-lady-detective-agency/ |url-status=live }} and managed a property company, which went bankrupt in 2009 during the Great Recession. She later established The Lady Detective Agency, a private investigation company. She stopped working with front-line investigation to work in marketing because her husband's bosses found it compromising to his career.{{cite book |last=Jane |first=Rebecca |title=The Real Lady Detective Agency: A True Story |date=17 January 2013 |publisher=HarperCollins UK |isbn=978-0-00-748899-5}} In 2018 she sold her detective agency.{{cite web |date=24 January 2018 |title=Enterpreneur sells female private investigation company |url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/entrepreneur-sells-female-private-investigation-company |access-date=7 June 2023 |publisher=Insider Media |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715221640/https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/entrepreneur-sells-female-private-investigation-company |url-status=live }}
In January 2013, HarperCollins published her book, The Real Lady Detective Agency, about her experiences.{{cite news|url=http://www.lancashirelife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/barrowford-s-rebecca-jane-the-woman-behind-the-real-lady-detective-agency-1-4837609|title=Barrowford's Rebecca Jane - the woman behind The Real Lady Detective Agency.|work=Lancashire Life|access-date=18 April 2017|archive-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419101900/http://www.lancashirelife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/barrowford-s-rebecca-jane-the-woman-behind-the-real-lady-detective-agency-1-4837609|url-status=live}}
=Later media appearances and political career=
On 30 September 2012,{{cite episode|title=Series 10, Episode 4|series=Dragons' Den|airdate=30 September 2012}} Jane appeared on the BBC's Dragon's Den.{{cite web|url=https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/business/blackpool-to-host-women-in-business-awards-1-7846905|title=Blackpool to host women in business awards|website=www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112515/https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/business/blackpool-to-host-women-in-business-awards-1-7846905|url-status=live}} In 2017, she was a housemate on the eighteenth series of Big Brother; entering the house alongside her agency employee Kieran Lee, however competing separately.{{cite web|url=https://www.burnleyexpress.net/whats-on/big-brother-fame-beckons-for-rebecca-and-kieran-854407|title=Big Brother fame beckons for Rebecca and Kieran|work=Burnley Express|access-date=8 June 2023}} She lasted eighteen days in the house before becoming the third housemate to be evicted.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/big-brother-s-rebeccca-jane-becomes-the-third-housemate-to-be-evicted-a3571366.html|title=Big Brother's Rebeccca Jane becomes the third housemate to be evicted|work=Evening Standard|access-date=2017-12-29|language=en-GB}} At the time of her Big Brother appearances, she was studying for a master's degree in law at the University of Central Lancashire.{{cite web |title=Preston law student avoids early eviction on TV's Big Brother |url=https://www.lep.co.uk/whats-on/tv/preston-law-student-avoids-early-eviction-on-tv-s-big-brother-1-8592161 |access-date=28 December 2017 |website=www.lep.co.uk |archive-date=29 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229052247/https://www.lep.co.uk/whats-on/tv/preston-law-student-avoids-early-eviction-on-tv-s-big-brother-1-8592161 |url-status=live }} Jane launched the 'Killing Catfish' campaign on ITV1's Loose Women in April 2017,{{cite news |title=12 months in Lancashire – Part Two |url=https://www.2br.co.uk/news/local-news/2464716/12-months-in-lancashire---part-two/ |work=2BR |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=29 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229053841/https://www.2br.co.uk/news/local-news/2464716/12-months-in-lancashire---part-two/ |url-status=live }} as a result of her investigative work for Matt Peacock, a victim of catfishing.{{cite news |title=Kym Marsh on her 'Catfish' nightmare: 'Someone stole my identity and pretended to be me for 10 years!' |url=http://www.itv.com/loosewomen/kym-marsh-on-her-catfish-nightmare-someone-stole-my-identity-and-pretended-to-be-me-for-10-years |access-date=18 April 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419104243/http://www.itv.com/loosewomen/kym-marsh-on-her-catfish-nightmare-someone-stole-my-identity-and-pretended-to-be-me-for-10-years |url-status=live }} Between February 2021{{cite web |title=Suicidal ideation |url=https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/opinion/columnists/suicidal-ideation-rebecca-jane-column-3800963 |work=Burnley Express |access-date=7 June 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818001845/https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/opinion/columnists/suicidal-ideation-rebecca-jane-column-3800963 |url-status=live }} and October 2022, she wrote for the Burnley Express; she left after being appointed deputy leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and used her final column to note that she had joined "around 2.5 years ago" after her "former boss wanted to stand as an MP", and after she researched parties for him and found that UKIP's views reflected her own.{{cite web |title=Burnley's outspoken Rebecca Jane named as new leader of UK Independence Party |url=https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/politics/burnleys-outspoken-rebecca-jane-named-as-new-leader-of-uk-independence-party-3883460 |work=Burnley Express |access-date=7 June 2023 |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618214332/https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/politics/burnleys-outspoken-rebecca-jane-named-as-new-leader-of-uk-independence-party-3883460 |url-status=live }}
In June 2023, it was announced that she would be standing as a candidate in the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, following the resignation of Boris Johnson. An article about UKIP published that month in The New European described Jane as a "far more proactive presence in the leadership" than its leader Neil Hamilton, that she "juggle[d] mental health work with GB News appearances", and that her "focus ha[d] been on attempts to unite the parties to the right of the Conservatives, which she refers to as "centre-right" or "splinter parties".{{cite web |last=Withers |first=Matt |title=How Ukip came crashing down to earth |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/how-ukip-came-crashing-down-to-earth/ |work=The New European |date=23 June 2023 |access-date=23 June 2023 |archive-date=23 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623112923/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/how-ukip-came-crashing-down-to-earth/ |url-status=live }} She came 14th of 17th, receiving 61 votes (0.2%).{{cite web |title=Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election 2023 results |url=https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/by-election-results |website=Hillingdon Council |access-date=21 July 2023 |language=en}}
On 20 January 2024, Jane resigned from the position of Deputy Leader of UKIP; she was not replaced until the retirement of party leader Neil Hamilton, with both replaced by Lois Perry and Nick Tenconi.{{Cite web |last=Moldoveanu |first=Rucsandra |date=2024-05-13 |title=UKIP's new leader is a climate denier and woke-mind-virus warrior |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/who-ukip-new-leader-lois-9282599 |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=Nottinghamshire Live |language=en}}
Personal life
Jane married James{{who|date=July 2023}} in 2005, with whom she had a daughter, Paris, in 2006.
Jane's second husband was the police officer Ben Dowlers, her childhood sweetheart. They have a daughter named Peach.{{cite web |date=17 May 2013 |title=Northern Life talks to The Real Lady Detective, Rebecca Jane |url=https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/the-lady-detective-rebecca-jane/ |access-date=11 June 2023 |publisher=Northernlifemagazine.co.uk |archive-date=11 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611114207/https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/the-lady-detective-rebecca-jane/ |url-status=live }} They divorced in 2015.{{cite web |title=Private investigator who made a fortune exposing cheating men reveals her own affair |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/private-investigator-who-made-a-fortune-exposing-cheating-men-reveals-her-own-affair/A6VTDFVNCNK7GA4WI4RYBRUOTQ/ |access-date=11 June 2023 |work=New Zealand Herald |archive-date=11 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611120355/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/private-investigator-who-made-a-fortune-exposing-cheating-men-reveals-her-own-affair/A6VTDFVNCNK7GA4WI4RYBRUOTQ/ |url-status=live }}
Jane wrote in The Real Lady Detective Agency that she had "no sense of smell". When she was a baby, she pushed part of a pen up her nose and damaged her nerve endings. She noted in a July 2022 Burnley Express article that she had suffered from five years of post-natal depression following Paris's birth, and that she almost died during the birth of Peach and suffered from PTSD as a result;{{cite web |title=I got parenting wrong?! |url=https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/opinion/columnists/i-got-parenting-wrong-rebecca-jane-column-3783499 |work=Burnley Express |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810162934/https://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/opinion/columnists/i-got-parenting-wrong-rebecca-jane-column-3783499 |url-status=live }} she mentioned in another article the following month that she suffered from a further bout of suicidal ideation in June 2021, following the ending of a relationship and her consequent forced departure from her job, the coverage in Sunday newspapers of her private life, and the abuse she suffered from as a result.
References
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{{UKIP}}
{{Big Brother UK housemates}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:21st-century British businesswomen
Category:21st-century British women politicians
Category:21st-century British women writers
Category:Big Brother (British TV series) contestants
Category:Politicians from Lancashire
Category:Right-wing populists in the United Kingdom
Category:Television personalities from Lancashire