Kieran Hayler tells court Katie Price 'coached' teen

Kieran Hayler told jurors at Lewes Crown Court that he believed his ex-wife Katie Price was coaching a 13-year-old girl. Mr Hayler is currently on trial, accused of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against the teenager in West Sussex in 2016. He denies all charges.

Discovery of messages

Giving evidence on Thursday, Mr Hayler stated he believed the allegations against him had been fabricated. He told the court he discovered messages on Ms Price's phone in 2017, which he believed showed her coaching the girl. Mr Hayler said he took pictures of these messages after accessing Ms Price's phone using his fingerprint, a method he stated she had also used on his phone. He told the court that at the time, trust had deteriorated in his marriage to Ms Price.

The court heard that Ms Price had messaged the teenager, stating she had heard that Mr Hayler and the girl had kissed and that he had made advances towards her. Ms Price also wrote, 'I will make you a little star.' When questioned about this phrase, Ms Price described it as 'a figure of speech'. Mr Hayler told the court he interpreted the messages as Ms Price 'coaching her into (saying) something she shouldn’t'.

Mr Hayler stated he had only recently found the pictures of the messages after taking his phones out of storage when he moved home. He subsequently sent them to his solicitor. He also told the court that Ms Price had accused him of being attracted to numerous other people, suggesting she might have used this to justify her own alleged infidelity.

Denial and counter-allegations

Mr Hayler denied the allegations, suggesting that his ex-wife had initiated a campaign against him following the end of their marriage. He stated that the allegations formed part of this campaign. Mr Hayler and Ms Price were married at the time of the alleged offences. Their relationship broke down in 2018, and they divorced in 2021.

The complainant first contacted the NSPCC in 2021 regarding the allegations. The charity then referred the matter to the police. The alleged victim is not related to either Mr Hayler or Ms Price's extended families.

Alternative charges

On Thursday, Mr Hayler pleaded not guilty to four alternative counts of sexual activity with a child. These lesser charges were added to the indictment after the close of the prosecution's case, allowing the jury to consider them as alternatives to the original rape and sexual assault counts. Judge Mark van der Zwart informed the jury that the key difference in these alternative charges was the absence of reference to 'the absence of consent'. He stressed that the decision on whether sexual activity took place between the complainant and Mr Hayler was entirely for the jury to determine.

The judge stated that the prosecution alleges the complainant was raped, while the defence maintains that no sexual activity occurred between them. If convicted of rape, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, while sexual assault carries a maximum of 10 years. The offence of sexual activity with a child has a maximum sentence of 14 years.

Mr Hayler is scheduled to continue giving evidence on Friday.