In the churchyard of St John’s in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, a large crowd had assembled to pay their respects. Max Clifford stood before them to honor his late client, Jade Goody, describing her as both ‘a princess in Bermondsey’—where she grew up—and the ‘Queen of Essex’.

It was April 2009, and following a well-attended service, Clifford, the infamous PR strategist, was paying tribute to the reality TV star who had succumbed to cervical cancer at the young age of 27, leaving behind two young sons.

To those attending, Clifford, who passed away amid scandal in 2017, appeared as a charming and kind individual, someone genuinely concerned for Jade’s well-being, as he had witnessed her year-long struggle with the illness.

However, I was aware that during Jade’s final weeks, Clifford had been pushing her story into the media spotlight relentlessly, aiming to maximize financial gain. Critics suggest this aggressive tactic was excessive and worry it might have even expedited her passing.

A former associate of Clifford’s told me: ‘Max cared deeply for Jade, but her last days were not only about securing a future for her children financially—they also served to boost his public image significantly.

‘Jade’s fight with cancer gave Max the opportunity to step into the media limelight once again. He thrived on the attention and importance it brought him, with some joking at the time that he attracted nearly as much media coverage as Jade herself.

‘He loved every minute of pulling the strings when it came to Jade: he was the puppeteer. Of course he had worked on lots of stories and events before, but this was huge. The nation was gripped when it came to Jade Goody.

‘You couldn’t help but think that he shouldn’t have been touting her around in that way. She was in pain, she was worried about her kids and she knew she was going to die. It was pretty awful to watch.’

I can concur. In the final months of Jade’s life, I watched as Clifford offered his client’s ‘final’ interviews to the highest bidder.

The now-defunct News of the World finally secured an exclusive with its writer, Jade’s friend Carole Malone, for an eye-watering £90,000. The chat took place just five weeks before the former Big Brother star passed away.

Similar deals were made with other papers while her cancer journey was also documented in a series on Living TV called Jade: With Love, which brought Clifford – and Jade – a ‘substantial amount of money’, I’m told.

And of course, her wedding day just a month before she died made it into the Press courtesy of Clifford, who negotiated a staggering £700,000 deal with OK! Magazine for exclusive pictures and an interview with the frail bride and her groom, Jack Tweed, held at Down Hall  near Hatfield Heath in Essex. Jade wore a £3,500 Manuel Mota dress, a gift from Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

Friends of Jade tell me that her priority in those final days was her sons Bobby and Freddy, who were just three and four when she died on March 22, 2009. She wanted to ensure there would be enough money for them to be privately educated and to want for nothing when they went to live with their father, Jeff Brazier.

Clifford and his pals always insisted Jade wanted to sell such ‘access’ during her final weeks, though he never revealed if he himself was taking payment for his role.

There have long been suspicions that he was. Of course, there would be nothing illegal about that – but many people would think it was in exceptionally poor taste to profit from a dying woman in that way.

I know from my own experience that Clifford did nothing for free. I recall when he was looking after EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace, who found out that her husband-to-be Vince Morse had cheated on her days before they were due to marry. Clifford briefed me on her behalf – and three days later, my editor received an email from Clifford demanding £8,000.

Jade had found overnight fame when she appeared on Channel 4 reality show Big Brother back in 2002. The nation fell in love with her when she replied ‘strawberries and spuds’ after being asked to name two vegetables. She also believed Rio de Janeiro was a person.

She became a household name and was soon handed her own television show and perfume line, and published a lucrative autobiography.

Clifford was then Britain’s most powerful publicist and, as well as Jade, he represented the likes of Simon Cowell, Kerry Katona and Wayne Bridge’s ex-wife Vanessa Perroncel, who was accused of cheating on him with his teammate, John Terry.

He was also involved in exposing political scandals, selling the story of former Conservative MP David Mellor’s affair and the perjury committed by Lord Archer.

Clifford carved out a highly lucrative niche, brokering ‘kiss-and-tell’ stories for tabloid newspapers as the go-to figure for those wanting to sell tawdry stories about having sex with celebrities. His Mayfair office would be a conveyor belt, mostly of women, asking him to negotiate with the Press on their behalf – for a hefty cut of the deal, of course.

He was awful in person: smarmy and rude. I long wondered why Jade, who was a sweet soul deep down, wanted to be represented by him in her final months, but she must have felt she had nowhere else to go. In 2007, she had been embroiled in a furious racism row when she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, describing the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty as ‘Shilpa Poppadom’. One source told me Jade ‘enjoyed having such a famous PR’ as Clifford to represent her.

In 2012, three years after Jade’s death, Clifford’s status as the UK’s most powerful PR man came crashing down when he was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, a police investigation into historical sexual abuse sparked by the Jimmy Savile scandal. Two years later he was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault against four women and girls aged 15 to 19 between 1977 and 1984.

Clifford was handed an eight-year prison sentence but died of a cardiac arrest in prison in December 2017 after collapsing in his cell.

Today, very little of the millions Jade accumulated during her life are left. Her £3million estate took a huge hit following a £1.8million tax bill, but the profit from her home in Ongar, Essex, where she died, is seemingly still held in trust for her sons. There is also an investment property which will be split between the boys when they reach 25, along with any cash in bank accounts.

Other funds taken from the trust have been spent on rehab for troubled Freddy, now 20, and his and Bobby’s, now 22, education.

‘The sad thing about the money situation is that so much of it went,’ says one source.

‘If she was here today, she would be devastated how things have turned out with her money. She was a lovely girl who came from nothing and made a lot of money and she was so kind. But the shame is that so many people took advantage of her – Max being one of them.’