Judge slams Katie Price for failing to attend court

A judge has criticised Katie Price for failing to turn up to court accused of threatening behaviour outside a school.

The former glamour model was due to appear at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning but was out of the country.

The 40-year-old, who lives in Dial Post near Horsham, West Sussex, is facing two charges of using threatening and abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress in the nearby village of Shipley on September 6 last year.

Sussex Police said there had been a verbal altercation outside a primary school.

District Judge Amanda Kelly said: “She hasn’t bothered to turn up today. Apparently she has something more important to do.”

The court heard Price had been sent a postal requisition on February 7 informing her of the need to attend the hearing.

She would have known about the case but had not turned up to police interviews about the matter, the court heard.

The district judge responded: “This shows a lack of respect for the whole court system”, adding that while it would be “tempting” to consider an arrest warrant, she was not going to do that as the penalty for the offence was a fine.

She said she would “reluctantly” adjourn the hearing until next week.

Price is due back in the country on March 18, the court heard, so the case was adjourned until 10am on March 20.

This is the third time this year Price has been in court. Last month she was given another driving ban after being convicted of being nearly twice the limit while in charge of her pink Range Rover.

In January she was banned after admitting driving while disqualified. She was also ordered to pay fines for the unrelated offences.