E17 STAR'S COKE STING ON EX

POP star Brian Harvey hired a hitman to drug and sexually degrade his OWN WIFE.

The attacker was ordered to take pictures of insensible Natasha Harvey with a line of cocaine so East 17 singer Brian could claim in a divorce hearing that she was an unfit mother — and gain custody of their little daughter.

But the plot has been smashed by a News of the World undercover team who secretly recorded him spilling every detail of his sick plot.

Harvey, 27, told the man he had picked for the job to get Natasha blind drunk, then to lay out the cocaine clearly for the camera. "Get her face in it and get that straw as it is going up her nose," he barked.

"Take a couple of pictures. If you get them pictures I'll ****ing get custody."

Brazen

"I'll say (to the court), ‘Ask her if she does cocaine'. She'll say, ‘No'. Then I'll put that picture down.

‘Now what you got to say?'

"I'm going to finish that bird, I'm going to absolutely finish her. "

Telling his hired hand to use Natasha as he liked, Harvey added: "Listen man, you rag it (slang for have sex).

"Do it if you want. I've got no feelings for her. "

The singer, who sold more than five million records and earned ?1.3million as East 17 had hit after hit in the 1990s, also handed over a wrap of cocaine.

A legal expert told the News of the World: "He could now face charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and supplying a class A drug. There is a real possibility he will be jailed. "

Harvey married Natasha, a backing dancer for East 17, in September 1997 after parting from his infamous girlfriend, EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook.

The marriage disintegrated in April 1998 and he has been seeking a divorce ever since. Besides custody of their daughter, he is also determined to get Natasha out of their flat in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.

Harvey, who is now dating model Emma B, launched his plot after a chance meeting with salesman Kemal Zorba.

Kemal, 26, is a former boyfriend of Natasha. Shameless Harvey realised that this was a man who might have an excuse to rekindle a relationship with Natasha and brazenly asked "Do me a favour. "

Then he outlined the basic plan.

Kemal kept his expression calm but he was secretly horrified and alerted the News of the World.

"I agreed to pretend to go ahead just to put a stop to him," he explained. "I thought, ‘If I say no he'll keep looking until he finds someone who will do it'.

Kemal's call to the News of the World came just two hours before Harvey was due to return with full instructions, so we had to act fast if we were to record every word. We were ready minutes before Harvey's Mercedes pulled up outside Kemal's house in Chingford, Essex.

The star, whose hits include It's Alright and Hey Child, brought with him a gramme of cocaine, a disposable camera and ?100.

He suggested Kemal take Natasha to a pub next to their flat and ply her with cheap wine.

"Get some ****ing wine down her neck," he ordered. "Get her p***ed. Then with the rest of the money, you could get another couple of grammes of gear (cocaine).

"Get her all ****ing randy and what not, get her back in the flat. Have a line of the gear. Let her have one, maybe do a small one, just to ****ing get her into it.

"This picture is gonna get me custody which is what I want. Which is what I deserve. Or I'll end up going round there and smashing her face. "

Then, detailing how the shot should be a close-up of Natasha's face and a line of cocaine," he added: "Get that straw halfway across that line as it's going up her nose. Take a couple of pictures and ****ing have her. "

Cackle

Harvey, who claims he has been declared bankrupt after frittering away his pop fortune, then told Kemal he would have to wait to be paid properly for the operation.

"Even this Merc belongs to the official receiver," he cackled, adding that he hoped to sell the picture of Natasha apparently snorting cocaine to a daily newspaper for "between three to five grand" — an unrealistically high price.

That money would be used to "look after" Kemal.

"Just get the picture," he stressed, "because this is like the most important moment in my life now. Because if she gets that flat I'll ****ing kill her. I'm not joking, I'll take her out...after ten years hard work, to end up with nothing.

"I hate her ****ing face. I just want to headbutt her ****ing head. If I could, I'd go round there and kick that door off and punch her ****ing head in. But I know that ain't going to do me no good. "

After the meeting, Kemal handed our investigators the gramme of cocaine for safe keeping while we prepared a dossier of evidence for Scotland Yard.

Harvey was a founding member of East 17, a group that once rivalled Take That as the boy band sensation of the 1990s. Their debut album Walthamstow entered the chart at No1 in 1993.

In 1997 he was thrown out of the band for admitting he had binged on ecstasy and appearing to support its use. The group didn't suffer without him, recording hits as recently as 1999 with Betcha Can't Wait.

Harvey has since blamed the loss of his cash on Danniella Westbrook's appetite for cocaine, and payments to his estranged wife and daughter.

"But he's just nasty and dangerous," said Kemal. "I'm frightened to do this to him because he knows some frightening people. But I'm moving to America.

"Nevertheless, I will give evidence against him. Anyone who'd do that to the mother of his child deserves to be put inside for a very long time.