The former glamour model Katie Price has been handed an 18-month community order after admitting breaching a restraining order against her ex-husband’s fiancee.
Price sent abusive messages to her ex-husband, Kieran Hayler, on 21 January this year in which she called his new partner, Michelle Penticost, a “cunting whore” and a “gutter slag”, a court heard.
She pleaded guilty to breaching the restraining order and was sentenced at Lewes crown court to an 18-month community order with 150 hours of community service, with an additional 20 hours for breach of a suspended sentence for driving matters. She was also ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs.
Judge Stephen Mooney told Price: “In my judgment, this offence was committed out of anger. The words you used were highly offensive and inflammatory, so the breach cannot be considered minor. In my judgment, 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 she gave a brief smile as she left the dock.
Price was banned from contacting 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 directing 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 Penticost, which she denies was aimed at Price. Price’s message read: “Tell your cunting 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 that the offence was committed due to Price’s use of the words “tell your”, which was an indirect attempt to communicate with Penticost.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Penticost said the breach 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 Price, said his client had pleaded guilty to the breach but she had been under a misapprehension that the restraining order “worked both ways”.
He said there was an element of “provocation” and she had been “overreacting as she felt she was being criticised”. He added: “She has shown signs of remorse, she accepts an indirect breach.”
Hamblin said Price had sought help for her emotional problems at the Priory clinic. He said she suffered from a “depressive disorder and anxiety” and added: “Miss Price is learning to cope with her emotional problems and to not react in the way she has in this case.”