Kieran Hayler told Lewes Crown Court he found cocaine, empty bottles and “drugs everywhere” at Katie Price’s Sussex home after their marriage ended.
Hayler, 39, said he continued living at the property for two months after the couple split in 2018, describing the house as being in “an absolute state”.
He is on trial accused of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault involving a 13-year-old girl in West Sussex in 2016. He denies all the charges.
Giving evidence, Hayler said: “I was coming down in the morning to carnage. There were drugs on the side. Cocaine on the worktops.
“Drugs everywhere and alcohol. The house was in an absolute state.”
Asked by his barrister, Arlette Piercy, whether he believed Price had a vendetta against him following their separation, Hayler replied: “It wasn’t amicable.”
Kieran Hayler court trial hears allegations were fabricated
Hayler told the jury that the allegations against him had been fabricated by the complainant, her mother and Price. He denied reports that he was a sex addict and said his former wife and her management had created a public narrative about him.
Asked by prosecutor Ryan Richter whether he believed the complainant had invented every aspect of her allegations, Hayler replied: “That’s right.”
He also agreed that the woman, her mother and Price had come together to draft the allegations. When asked whether the complainant had been acting during a police interview, he said: “Yes. Or she was very nervous because she’s lying.”
The jury was shown a video-recorded police interview from December 2021 in which the complainant described being raped by Hayler. When Mr Richter suggested Hayler had “worked out your theory of what happened”, he replied: “It’s not a theory.”
Hayler said the allegations began after his relationship with Price ended and after she left the Priory following her conviction for rolling her car while under the influence of drink and drugs.
“The timing is almost identical,” he told the court. “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.”
He claimed Price was behind the allegations, saying she had retained access to her phone while at the Priory and was going out for hair appointments and shopping.
Hayler also said stories describing him as a sex addict had been created by Price and her management to generate headlines and income. “She had decided that was what we were going to run with,” he said.
Price, 48, gave evidence earlier in the trial. The court heard that messages between her and the complainant, who was then 14, had been sent in May 2017 after Price asked about rumours involving Hayler.
In one message, Price wrote: “I won’t say anything and I promise I’ll protect you. I’m only asking as this is a serious allegation to say.”
The girl replied that it had been “just a flirt thing” and that “nothing happened”. Price then wrote: “I won’t bring up any more, just want truth. I will make you a little star.”
When questioned about the phrase in court, Price said it was a figure of speech and that there had been no agenda behind it.
The complainant’s mother has denied being influenced by Price and said her daughter was not interested in becoming a celebrity. She told jurors that she believed her daughter and had kept the allegations secret because she did not want to lose her trust.
The complainant contacted the NSPCC in 2021 and was referred to police. Hayler was first interviewed in January 2022, when he denied that any of the alleged incidents had taken place or that anything sexual had occurred.
Hayler met Price in 2012 and they married the following year. They separated in 2018 and divorced three years later.
He denies rape and sexual assault. The trial at Lewes Crown Court continues.
