Katie Price’s ex-husband, Kieran Hayler, is on trial accused of carrying out three rapes, as well as a separate sex assault against a then-13-year-old. He denies all of the charges
Katie Price’s ex-husband Kieran Hayler told a 13-year-old girl he is accused of having raped and sexually assaulted that she could be his “best friend”, a court heard.
Hayler, 39, is accused of committing three rapes and a separate sex assault against the complainant between June and October 2016, when he was married to the former glamour model. He denies all charges.
The girl’s mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, today told Lewes crown court: “[My daughter] said he talks to me about things. She said that he told her he didn’t have any friends and that she could be his best friend. She liked the way he spoke to her.”
The witness was giving her second day of evidence from behind a screen on Friday morning. She was asked about evidence heard earlier in the trial that Ms Price had quizzed the alleged victim, then aged 14, about Hayler’s alleged conduct in a number of messages in May 2017 and told her “I’ll make you a little star”.
Speaking about her daughter, the woman today said: “[She] wasn’t interested in being a star.” The alleged victim’s mum also denied claims by Hayler’s barrister that she hadn’t believed her own daughter’s claims about Hayler and didn’t do anything about them.
Hayler’s barrister Arlette Piercy told her: “You didn’t believe anything had happened, did you and you didn’t do anything about it did you?” The woman said: “Yes I did, I believed my daughter.”
Asked by the prosecution if she was making up her claims that her daughter told her about Hayler doing things to her, she said: “no”. Pressed on whether anyone had influenced or pressured her to come to court by anybody to make that up, she replied: “Nobody”.
Despite telling Ms Price about the allegation, the woman told the court she felt unable to tell anyone else, including her own husband, who is also the complainant’s dad, after her daughter swore her to secrecy. She said: “I had to keep her secret and I had to keep her trust”.
She added: “I didnt want to tell my husband because i knew what was the consequences would be”. Asked what she meant, she said: “All of this. I didn’t want any of this for her”. The woman also told how she has undergone what the defence described as “forgiveness counselling” by a therapist in order to cope with what her daughter says Hayler did to her.
The previous day, on Thursday, the jury of five men and seven women had heard Katie Price told the authorities her then husband Kieran Hayler had groomed and sexually abused his alleged teenage rape victim from when she was aged 13 and had fallen in love with her.
In a list of agreed facts read in court, the jury was told that on August 9, 2018, Ms Price told a social worker her then husband had been grooming the alleged complainant. The court heard Ms Price had alleged Hayler “had been grooming her since she was 13, grabbing her bottom and telling her he was falling in love with her”.
Also on Thursday, the complainant’s mum told the court Ms Price seemed “angry and feeling vengeful” towards her then husband after being told he had allegedly sexually abused the girl. But she added she didn’t seem to care about her daughter.
The woman told how, in August 2017, her daughter told her Hayler had done things to her, adding “he’s done everything to me, mummy”. The girl’s mum admitted she told Ms Price about the allegation weeks later as she felt “a burden”.
She told the court: “I felt that she had a right to know. I felt I should tell her. I said to [the complainant] because the marriage situation had broken down it was only fair I let Katie know. [My daughter] wasn’t OK about it, but she wasn’t OK at any of the situation.
“[My daughter] said ‘I can understand why you would want to tell her, but I don’t think it will help, it will probably make it worse’. After a little bit longer i did tell [Katie]. I said to Katie ‘I think Kieren has has done something to [the complainant]’.
“She was shocked and probably swore. She was quite angry… I didn’t feel that she was particularly upset for [my daughter]. I felt like she was just angry and feeling vengeful towards Kieren for the situation they were in.
“[Katie Price] kept saying: ‘You could get him into trouble if you tell anyone’. I said ‘yes I know, but [the complainant] doesn’t want me to tell anybody and we have to respect her wishes’. We have to look after [the complainant]’.”
The complainant’s mum said she told Ms Price she feared Hayler had done something to her daughter weeks after her daughter had confided in her. She said: “She went quite pale and then she started crying. I said ‘why are you crying? She just cried more and more and she said because ‘he’s done things to me’. I said ‘what has he done to you?’. She cried more and she said ‘he’s done everything to me mummy’.
Asked whether she later tried to ask her daughter for more detail about her allegations, the woman said: “I did on many occasions and she just said her main concern was that I would keep her secret and not tell her father, not anyone. Nobody must know, you must never tell anybody. She said I was the only person she could trust and I couldn’t betray her by telling anybody.”
Asked whether she knew her daughter was going to contact police about her allegations in October 2021, in advance, the woman said: “Not until she’d done that, she told me afterwards. She said ‘I don’t think you’re going to be very happy’. I said ‘why?’ She said ‘I’ve reported it to the police’. I knew straight away what she meant.”
The woman said she and the complainant again discussed the allegations in the days afterwards. She said: “She didn’t want to go into details. She said he’d done everything to her and that she’d lost her virginity. She said that [at the time] she thought it was normal. He told her it was normal and she said he cried afterwards and told her that if she told anyone they would both get into trouble.
“She said it made her sick and dirty whenever she felt about what had happened. She said at the time she thought it was normal, but looking back on it she realised it wasn’t.”
The woman said she was contacted by police in August or September 2018 after Ms Price told social services about her daughter’s allegations, but her daughter refused to engage with officers. She said: “She was absolutely adamant she didn’t want to speak to the police. I spoke to an officer. I said [the complainant] didn’t want to talk to them.”
The woman admitted that telling Ms Price about the allegation had caused her daughter to be angry at her. She said: “There were [fallings out]. She probably didn’t want anyone to ever know and yes it did cause arguments. We did have a fallout, yes.”
On day three of the trial on Wednesday, the jury had heard Ms Price had quizzed the alleged victim, then aged 14, in a number of messages in May 2017 and told her “I’ll make you a little star”.
In messages read to court, Ms Price told the complainant she had been told that she and Hayler “kissed and he tried it on with you and may have done more”. Ms Price added: “Is this rubbish? I won’t say anything. I’m only asking as this is a serious allegation.”
In another message, Ms Price asked: “Was it just a flirt and what did he do to realise it was wrong? Did he try kiss you? I won’t bring up any more, just want truth! I will make you a little star.”
The alleged victim, now 23, was asked during cross-examination on the witness stand on Wednesday what she thought Ms Price meant and said she did not know, adding: “I ignored it.”
The girl, who is not a member of Ms Price or Hayler’s families, replied to Ms Price: “It was just a flirt thing, he knew it was wrong. I deleted his number. Nothing happened.” Katie went on to ask: “Did he ever say he liked or fancied you?”. The schoolgirl replied: “Yes, but I took it as a joke.” Ms Price 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.”
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 that it was “because nothing happened”, the complainant replied: “It did happen”.
The alleged victim 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 said she had deleted messages between herself and Ms Price in October 2021 after fearing the model may screenshot them and send them to Hayler. Asked “why did you think that?”, the complainant replied: “Because she doesn’t like him. She’s got a vendetta against him, so I thought she would probably use me as a target against him”.
The complainant was asked by the judge: “If anyone suggested to you that Katie Price has caused or encouraged you to invent these lies about Kieren, what would you say to that?”. She told the court: “It’s not true. She hasn’t no.”
Asked by the judge what impact, if anything, Ms Price’s decision to contact social services had on the her decision to contact the NSPCC, the complainant replied: “None at all. It was my own decision.”
The complainant’s witness testimony ended on Wednesday after she spent two days on the stand. She had repeatedly cried during cross-examination, describing herself as “overwhelmed”. At one point she rushed from the court to be sick causing the day’s hearing to be adjourned for the day.
The trial continues.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
