Friday, October 23, 2026 - Katie Price’s ex-husband Kieran Hayler has been found not guilty of sexually attacking a 13-year-old schoolgirl.
Hayler, 39, was charged with three counts of rape and one
count of sexual assault following alleged incidents in West Sussex in 2016.
He was acquitted on Thursday, October, 22, following a
trial at Lewes Crown Court.
He was also cleared of four alternative counts of sexual
activity with a child.
Hayler, of Northchapel, West Sussex, wept as he was released
from the dock at Lewes Crown Court.
Hayler’s turbulent relationship with Ms Price, to whom he
was married from 2012 to 2021, was laid bare during the court proceedings.
He accused the media personality of setting him up with
“fabricated” allegations, saying that it was a “smear campaign against me”.
On the stand, Ms Price denied being “angry and vengeful”
towards her ex-husband.
Katie Price was described by a judge as a 'dangerous
witness' with a personal agenda who nearly collapsed the trial of her
ex-husband.
The jury, made up of four men and six women, returned the
verdicts on Friday after nearly 15 hours of deliberation.
During the trial, Price was accused by her ex-husband of
'coaching' the alleged victim after discovering messages in which his then-wife
suggested he fancied the girl and promised to make her 'a little star'.
Hayler told the court: 'I am attracted to older women',
adding that all his significant relationships had been with older women.
He admitted having affairs with three other women during his
marriage to Price, but claimed she had also been unfaithful.
The court heard that the couple's relationship had broken
down by mid-2013, with Hayler telling jurors that 'trust had gone on both
sides'.
Hayler said he discovered messages between his wife and the
alleged victim in 2017 while searching Price's phone for evidence that she was
having an affair.
The court heard that Price had messaged the teenager,
claiming she had heard Hayler and the girl had kissed and that he had 'tried it
on' with her.
In another message, the former glamour model told the girl:
'I will make you a little star.'
Hayler said he found the exchange suspicious and took
photographs of the messages on his own phone.
Asked by his defence barrister Arlette Piercy why he had
photographed them, he replied: 'Because she made out that I fancied (the
complainant).
'I thought, 'This is a bit weird'.'
Judge Mark van der Zwart sent out the jury, made up of six
women and five men, to begin their deliberations on Tuesday afternoon.
In closing speeches on Monday, prosecutor Ryan Richter said:
'You've seen the big personalities, the big egos in this case and you'll judge
it, you'll cut through it.
'You'll decide whether those big voices drown out the voice
of (the complainant) or whether that voice has made you sure on the counts of
this indictment.'
Defence barrister Arlette Piercy said in her closing speech
that Hayler has been consistent and clear throughout his defence, in what has
been a 'roller coaster ride for everybody in this court'.
Hayler said the allegations started after he split from his
ex-wife and after she checked out of The Priory rehab clinic following her
conviction for rolling her car while under the influence of drink and drugs.
He said: 'The timing is almost identical. Every time
something was going bad for her, a bad news story or something to do with me,
there would be a threat to do with me and this.'
He said despite being checked into the Priory after her
conviction, Katie Price was 'out and about', adding: 'This was three years
after our relationship ended.
'She had her phone in the Priory. She was out and about for
hairdresser, shopping.
'Then all of a sudden, this allegation is made. Miss
Price, I think, is behind the allegation.'
Hayler also described finding the aftermath of a drink and
drugs binge at Price's home dubbed 'Mucky Mansion' after they split.
The jury heard he found cocaine and empty bottles around the
house in Sussex before he moved out in 2018.
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