Katie Price: what happened in Lewes Crown Court today - did she escape jail for breaching restraining order?

Former glamour model Katie Price has escaped jail for sending an “angry and inflammatory” message to her ex-husband in breach of a restraining order banning her from contacting his new partner

The 44-year-old sent Kieran Hayler a message on 21 January this year in which she branded his new partner Michelle Penticost a “c***ing whore” and a “gutter slag”.

Price pleaded guilty to the breach and was sentenced to an 18-month community order with 150 hours of community service, plus an additional 20 hours for breach of a suspended sentence for driving matters.

She was also ordered to pay £1,500 court costs.

Price arrived at Lewes Crown Court this morning in an all-green outfit clutching the arm of her fiance Carl Woods, and was heard to say “suck my d**k” as she made her way past reporters, one of whom asked her about the chance she could go to prison.

What was said in court?

Price was banned from contacting Ms Penticost directly or indirectly under the terms of a five-year restraining order imposed at Horsham Magistrates’ Court on 3 June 2019.

She was also fined £415 for hurling a foul-mouthed “tirade of abuse” at her during a row in a school playground.

The court heard that her message to Hayler may have been triggered by an Instagram post by Ms Penticost, which she denies was aimed at Price.

Price’s message read: “Tell your c***ing whore, piece of shit, girlfriend not to start on me.

“She has a restraining order so shouldn’t try antagonise me as she is in breach and I’m sure she doesn’t want people knowing that she was having an affair with you behind my back. That gutter slag.”

The court heard the offence was committed due to Price’s use of the words “tell your”, which was an indirect attempt to communicate with Penticost.

Delivering the verdict, Judge Stephen Mooney told Price that in his judgement, the offence was “committed out of anger”.

He said: “The words you used were highly offensive and inflammatory so the breach cannot be considered minor.

“In my judgement, balancing the aggravating and mitigating factors, the appropriate sentence is a medium-level community order.”

Price showed no emotion as the verdict was announced but gave a brief smile as she left the dock.

‘What Katie has done is very upsetting’

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Michelle Penticost said the impact of the restraining order breach by Katie Price had a “devastating effect” on her mental wellbeing.

She said: “The impact of what Katie has done is very upsetting, I feel threatened and intimidated.

“I feel demoralised and not wanting to go out. The language used made me feel scared. I felt it was an attack on me.

“The consequences are I feel she will attack me. I felt by having a restraining order it would make me feel safe but by someone breaching it it has made me feel very vulnerable.”

Nicholas Hamblin, representing Katie Price, said his client had pleaded guilty to the breach but she had been under a “misunderstanding” that the restraining order “worked both ways”.

He said there was an element of “provocation” and she had been “over-reacting as she felt she was being criticised”.

He added: “She has shown signs of remorse, she accepts an indirect breach.”

Mr Hamblin explained that Miss Price had sought help for her emotional problems at the Priory Clinic, and that she suffered from a “depressive disorder and anxiety”.

He continued: “She has two different personalities, the public one and the vulnerable one of being in the public eye and every day in the public eye no matter what she does.

“It’s perhaps a case of building someone up only to knock them down.”

Mr Hambin added that “there was a lot of good to be said” for Price and she was considered in a probation report to be at “low risk of reoffending”.