Kieran Hayler has been cleared of raping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old schoolgirl after a trial at Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex.
The 39-year-old, who was formerly married to reality star Katie Price, was accused of sexually assaulting and raping the girl in West Sussex in 2016. The jury returned majority verdicts on Thursday morning after deliberating for almost 15 hours.
Hayler wept as he was released from the dock and told by the judge that he was discharged. His mother and former partner, Michelle Pentecost, were also seen crying as the verdicts were delivered.
He was cleared of three counts of rape and sexual assault, together with four alternative charges of sexual activity with a child.
During the proceedings, Hayler accused Ms Price of setting him up with what he described as “fabricated” allegations and a “smear campaign against me”. Ms Price denied being “angry and vengeful” towards her former husband.
The former stripper told the court that he had discovered messages between Ms Price and the alleged victim in 2017, while searching his then-wife’s phone for evidence that she was having an affair.
The messages included a claim from Ms Price that she had heard Hayler and the teenager had kissed and that he had “tried it on” with her. In another exchange, she told the girl: “I will make you a little star.”
Hayler said he had photographed the messages on his own phone because Ms Price had suggested he was attracted to the girl. Asked by his barrister, Arlette Piercy, why he had taken the photographs, he replied: “Because she made out that I fancied (the complainant). I thought, ‘This is a bit weird’.”
He also told jurors: “I am attracted to older women”, adding that his significant relationships had been with older women. He admitted having affairs with three women during his marriage to Ms Price, but said she had also been unfaithful.
Hayler and Ms Price met in 2012 and married at a Caribbean resort in January 2013. They separated in 2018 and divorced three years later.
In closing, prosecutor Ryan Richter urged the jury to look beyond the “big personalities” and “big egos” involved in the case when deciding whether the complainant’s account had made them sure of the charges.
Ms Piercy said Hayler had remained consistent and clear throughout his defence in what she described as a “roller coaster ride for everybody in this court”.
Hayler had claimed the allegations began after he split from Ms Price and after she left a rehabilitation clinic following her conviction for rolling her car while under the influence of drink and drugs.
He told the court: “The timing is almost identical. Every time something was going bad for her, a bad news story or something to do with me, there would be a threat to do with me and this.”
