Pictured: Jailed playboy and self-styled Lord known as Fast Eddie handcuffed to a bed in hospital as he fights 'death sentence' illness

• Disgraced tycoon Edward Davenport, 47, was a fixture of gossip columns
• Boasted that he could date any woman in the world he wanted
• Now he is chained to a hospital bed following his second kidney transplant
• Watched by prison guards while at St George's Hospital, London
• In 2011 he was jailed for eight years following his part in a £4million fraud

By Alexis Parr and Jo Knowsley

He was once the toast of high society and no champagne-fuelled party was complete without him. Edward Davenport was a fixture in the gossip columns, had homes in London and Monaco, and boasted that he could date any woman in the world.
But today the disgraced tycoon, dubbed ‘Fast Eddie’ by friends, cuts a pitiful figure – chained to a hospital bed and watched by prison guards after undergoing a second kidney transplant.
The self-styled ‘Lord’ – jailed for his role in a multi-million pound fraud – is trying to stay positive despite his condition but admits: ‘I know I’m fighting a death sentence.’

Handcuffed: Edward Davenport is chained to a chair in his treatment room at St George's Hospital, South London

In an exclusive interview with  The Mail on Sunday from his bed at St George’s Hospital in South London, Davenport, 47, says: ‘I was diagnosed with a defective kidney when I was about 15 and had my first transplant about 15 years ago.
‘I never told anyone about it as it didn’t really fit in with my image. But over the past few years it became apparent that that kidney was not working any more. I was in prison and feeling ill.
‘I’d been on the NHS donor list for another transplant for ages and then my name up just before Christmas – I think somebody had a tragic accident and lost their life. Before that  I was travelling to St George’s, chained up with three prison officers, three times a week for dialysis. It was an ordeal for them and me.’

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Thin and grey-faced, Davenport has been shaken by his stint in hospital. He also needed a vital second operation after his transplant, to treat an aneurysm – a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall. ‘My life hung in the balance. It was touch-and-go,’ Davenport admits.
Certainly his situation today is a far cry from the image he cultivated when he burst on to the London party scene in the 1980s. His black-tie Gatecrasher Balls, aimed at wealthy public school teenagers, quickly became synonymous with drunkenness and debauchery.

Socialising: 'Fast Eddie' with socialite Tamara Beckwith at a party in 1994

Life of luxury: The fraudster owned many properties in London and lived in the L'Hermitage hotel in Monte Carlo

The business made him a fortune but it crashed when he was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to nine months in jail.
Despite the setback, Davenport never lost his love of taking risks – even though it repeatedly landed him in trouble. In 1998, he and two other men were charged with running up an £18,000 bill at the luxury Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland during a five-day New Year party while posing as aristocrats. They denied the claims and charges were later dropped.
A year later, he bought the lease of the Sierra Leone High Commission building in Central London for just £50,000 while the country was embroiled in civil war. The property – now his home – is said to be worth £30 million and was used to film scenes for the Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech. In May 2011, Davenport was given eight years for his part in a £4 million fraud.  The judge described him as the ‘ringmaster’ who was careful not to leave ‘footprints in the snow.’
After his health deteriorated, Davenport’s lawyer Karen Todner lodged an application to have him released on the grounds of ill-health. She hopes to secure a hearing as early as next month.

Police escort: He was travelling with prison guards to St George;s Hospital in Tooting, South London, three times a week for dialysis

‘I feel like an old man shuffling around, chained to a prison officer even when I want to go to the bathroom,’ says Davenport. ‘After the operation I was given a cocktail of drugs which gave me hallucinations.’
Ironically, he says, he got a better night’s sleep while held in Wandsworth prison. ‘I was in a cell on my own there and got a decent night’s rest. In this renal unit there is a lot going on day and night. It never stops.’
The only ‘highlight’ of his hospital stay has been the fact that his elderly mother Jean was allowed to visit on Christmas Day – something that would not have happened had he been in jail. Davenport concedes he sometimes finds it difficult to accept how much his life has changed: ‘I can’t even wear my own silk pyjamas – I have to wear the hospital ones. The truth is I feel shaky. I know I’m at death’s door.’