Katie Price quizzed her ex-husband Kieran Hayler's alleged teenage rape victim and told her: "I'll make you a little star", a court heard.
Hayler, 39, who denies all charges, is on trial accused of three rapes and a separate sex assault against the complainant between June and October 2016, when she was aged 13 and he was married to the former glamour model. Lewes Crown Court today heard Katie sent the girl, who was then aged just 14, a number of messages in May 2017 asking her about rumours she had heard about her and Hayler.
Messages Read to Court
In messages read to the court, Ms Price told the complainant that she had been told that she and Hayler "kissed and he tried it on with you and may have done more." In the same message, Price added: "Is this rubbish? I won't say anything and I promise I’ll protect you. I’m only asking as this is a serious allegation to say."
In another message read to the court, Ms Price asked: "Was it just a flirt and what did he do to realise it was wrong? Did he try kiss you? I wont bring up anymore, just want truth! I will make you a little star." She also asked the girl: "What were the messages? Please help and tell me....as long as I know the truth I won’t say. I promise."
The schoolgirl, who is not a member of either Price or Hayler's families, replied telling the TV star: "It was just a flirt thing and he knew it was wrong and I deleted his number. Nothing happened." Katie went on to ask: "Did he ever say he liked or fancied you?" The girl replied: "Yes, but i took it as a joke. Please don’t get angry at him because of me."
Victim's Evidence
The evidence emerged in court on Wednesday as the alleged victim, now aged 23, was giving her second day of evidence on the stand in Hayler's trial, in which Katie Price is also due to give evidence later this week. Asked today what she though Ms Price meant by her message telling her 'I'll make you a little star', the complainant said: "I dont think I said anything. I ignored it." She added she didn't know what Ms Price meant by the message.
Asked by the defence barrister Arlette Piercy why she had told Price "nothing happened", the complainant said: "Because I didnt want to speak to anyone else about it". Challenged by Ms Piercy that it was "because nothing happened", the complainant replied: "It did happen".
The alleged victim also today told the court Hayler had told her to delete their messages from her phone. She told the court: "I deleted them. Mr Hayler was asking me to delete my messages. I don't have them anymore." She also responded to claims she has made the allegations up, telling the court: "No, I would never make it up, no."
Allegations and Police Interview
The complainant's evidence ended early on Tuesday after she left court to be sick. She had earlier broken down in tears during cross-examination, saying she was “overwhelmed”. Earlier that same day she told how Hayler raped her on three separate occasions, including once in a bathroom. Speaking about the aftermath of that alleged attack, she told the court: "I remember he text me after it happened saying 'I love you. Good night'. I replied 'I love you too'."
During cross-examination, the woman denied she had “made up” all of the claims and said she did not initially tell her mum what had happened as she said “I didn’t want my mum to think I was disgusting, because I thought it was my fault for ages.”
The complainant also told the court Katie Price, 48, told her she would support her police complaint. She also claimed former glamour model Ms Price repeatedly used her name as a “threat” to Hayler, who Ms Price was married to from 2013 until 2021, and questioned him about her. A jury at Lewes crown court was shown a video of the alleged victim’s original police interview filmed in December 2021.
Contact with Katie Price
She said Ms Price had contacted her to say: “I know you’re going through a tough time, I support you through everything.” The alleged victim said she replied, “Oh, thanks for your support”... but I can’t talk about it at this time’. [Katie] replied again after that saying ‘I’ve done my interview’... ‘Have you done yours yet? I’ll support you’." The complainant said she later deleted the messages and blocked the TV star because she was worried Ms Price might pass the messages on to Hayler. She added: “That’s the only contact we’ve had."
The woman claimed Hayler had phoned her and told her Ms Price had threatened him over the allegations. She said in the interview: “I remember him ringing me and he said something like ‘you promise you won’t tell anyone? What we had was special. You better take it to the grave. If you tell anyone I’ll get in trouble'. I didn’t think he’d ever hurt me, I just thought if I ever said anything he’d probably say I was making it up. I said ‘I promise I won’t’."
The complainant added: “[Ms Price] kept bringing me up, kept using me as a threat to him, saying, ‘I know what you did.’ I think she was trying to get him to admit to something by accidentally slipping up and saying something, but he’d never said anything." It is not known exactly what Ms Price had been told about the allegations.
Reporting to Police
The woman contacted the NSPCC charity by email in 2021, aged 18, before speaking to police in December that year. Asked in the video why she had now decided to report the matter, the complainant said: “Because I don’t want to go down the line in 20 years time and find out he’s done it to more than just me." She said she had seen a news article claiming former reality TV star Hayler was “a great dad” and “an amazing man”. She added: “I got this rage inside of me. He’s not amazing. He’s ruined my relationships with other people and ruined sex for me. I was so angry."
In video of her police interview shown on the first day of Hayler's trial on Monday, the victim was seen wiping away tears as she claimed Hayler raped her on three separate occasions. Asked about the first time she claims Hayler attacked her, she told a female police officer: “Unfortunately, I can’t really remember how it all started, but I just remember him having a conversation with me about sex and almost describing it to me as if it was a good thing and something I needed to do."
"Obviously, it was my first time, so I didn't really know what sex really was. I just remember him saying how special the first time was and how it was important. He started crying and saying, 'Ooh, maybe I shouldn't take it away from you. Its so important, it's like so special'. I said 'Well, let's not do it then' because I didn't really understand what he was talking about and then all I remember was him taking off his clothes and then he started taking off my clothes. I was very confused by the whole thing."
Asked about the second alleged rape, which she claims began while she was asleep, she said: “The second time it was the same position as the first time. I woke up and he’s on top of me and his face is in my face. I didn’t say anything. I just laid there thinking, ‘What’s going on?’. I think he was just rocking backwards and forth."
Asked about the third alleged rape, she said: "I've tried to forget it for so many years. I think he got on top of me and started having sex with me. I think this went on for a lot longer than it had before." The alleged victim claims Hayler sexually assaulted her again the next day before warning her not to tell anyone what had happened.
She told officers: “He was like, ‘You can’t talk about it, you can’t tell anyone, I might get in trouble for this’. I think he grabbed my hand... and put it down his trousers. I remember immediately pulling it back out while he was talking to me. He was trying to explain why he'd done it. He was trying to tell me when he was younger his dad wasn't nice to him and he had a rough childhood and stuff like that and he had problems. He was trying to get me to feel sorry for him almost."
Prosecution Case
Prosecutor Ryan Richter said the girl first told her mum about the alleged attacks - which it is claimed took place at an address in West Sussex - in August 2017. While opening the case on Monday afternoon, Mr Richter said: "She told her mother then that ‘something had happened’. When her mother asked ‘What?’, she replied ‘He did things to me’ and ‘he pinned me down’. When she asked her what he had done, she replied to her mum ‘Well, he did everything to me, mum'."
Mr Richter added: “This is a case of rape. The prosecution alleges that Mr Hayler used his personality and charm, firstly to win the friendship and then the trust of a 13-year-old girl. The prosecution says when he had developed that trust, he then used that trust to sexually abuse and rape her."
After the alleged victim spoke to police in December 2021, Mr Hayler was interviewed about the allegations by police the following month and denied that any of them took place. Mr Richter said: "Mr Hayler denies these allegations. He denies that anything sexual ever happened and she is simply making the allegations up. He suggests that behind these allegations lies his relationship with his ex-wife Katie Price and he says it is she who has launched, effectively, a campaign against him, of which this is a part."
Mr Richter added: "He alleges that Katie Price set out in a campaign against him and that [the complainant], in making these allegations, is a part of that. You will no doubt consider that with care. The prosecution say that there is no connection between the things that happened in the relationship and the allegations [by the complainant]. What [the complainant] is saying is not, the prosecution say, motivated by Katie Price."
The trial of Hayler, a former reality TV star, is expected to last seven days in total, before the jury retire to consider their verdicts next week. The group of five men and seven women were formally sworn in on Monday morning before the trial began later the same day. The trial continues.
