Katie Price has insisted she is ‘neither embarrassed nor ashamed’ despite a warrant being issued for her arrest after she failed to turn up at a bankruptcy hearing.
Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Catherine Burton said the model and reality TV star had received ‘very clear warnings’ that she must attend court yesterday.
Price had been due to face questions about her finances in the specialist bankruptcy court in London, from barristers representing the trustee of her two bankruptcies – and has been ordered to give up her pink Range Rover and five other vehicles.
Now in a statement on Instagram, the 46-year-old said she was ‘away working for a documentary on corrective surgeries’, was not ‘running away’ and was ‘fully aware of the severity of my current personal financial situation’.
A judge at a previous hearing said Price risked arrest if she did not attend further court dates, adding that evidence must be provided if she could not appear.
Model and reality TV star Katie Price has flown to Turkey after failing to appear at a court hearing in London yesterday in relation to her most recent bankruptcy
The mother-of-five, 46, has posted on Instagram saying she feels ‘neither embarrassed or ashamed’ and was ‘trying to put matters right’
Price has been ordered to give up her pink Range Rover and five other vehicles
But the court heard that it had been reported that Price had travelled to Turkey, with a now-deleted Instagram story showing what appeared to be her eating a crisp sandwich on a flight.
Meanwhile, new photos show her former home – dubbed the ‘Mucky Mansion’ – has been given a clean-up after she was ordered out earlier this year.
Price has accused critics of trying to cause ‘continued humiliation to myself and family’, adding: ‘I have and I am continuing to cooperate with the relevant people on matters to the best of my ability which will be addressed after my return from work.’
She continued: ‘Despite consistent stories trying to humiliate me on my personal misfortunes, I am neither embarrassed or ashamed. I own my situation and I am trying my best to work my way out of it and put matters right.
‘I have to continue in my work in order to satisfy these bankruptcy orders which is all I am trying to do right now. I am however not running from matters and will continue to take matters with great seriousness.
‘I am doing the best I can to rectify things during extremely challenging times.’
Issuing the arrest warrant yesterday, Judge Burton said that Price had ‘failed to attend today’s hearing’ and had provided no explanation for her absence.
She said: ‘It is in my judgment necessary that the court issue a warrant for Ms Price’s arrest. She has no real excuse in failing to attend today’s hearing. The reason for her absence today is irrelevant.’
Judge Burton said that an arrest warrant was not issued ‘lightly’ but that Price had offered only ‘piecemeal co-operation’ and failed to provide the ‘most basic information’ in relation to her bankruptcies.
Price was due to face questions yesterday related to her finances at a hearing known as a public examination, with barrister Darragh Connell, for the trustee, telling the court in written submissions that there ‘remains significant information missing as regards the bankrupt’s income and asset position’.
Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Catherine Burton said that an arrest warrant was not issued ‘lightly’ but that Price (pictured) had offered only ‘piecemeal co-operation’
Posting on Instagram yesterday with a picture which has since been deleted, Price appeared to be eating a sandwich on a plane just hours before she was due in court
More than 20 tonnes of rubbish is thought to have been cleared from Katie Price’s former home – which was dubbed the ‘Mucky Mansion’ – in East Sussex
Speaking in court, he said the trustee does not ‘have any information as to her whereabouts’, adding that Ms Price ‘would not be kept in custody for a long period of time’, but would be detained to secure her attendance at a future hearing.
He said: ‘Her liberty is on the line, but unfortunately we are at the end of the road in relation to this matter.’
Price was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March this year over an unpaid tax bill of £761,994.05.
She was then served an eviction notice that ordered her to leave her East Sussex home dubbed ‘Mucky Mansion’ by the end of May and has since moved into a £5,000-per-month new Tudor-style property.
At a hearing in February, she had been ordered to pay 40 per cent of her monthly income from the adult entertainment website OnlyFans to the trustee for the next three years, in relation to her first bankruptcy.
In October last year, she said she was ‘fed up’ with being threatened with legal action and would go to prison to be ‘done with it all’.
Then in May this year, she told on her own podcast of being signed off from appearing in court for her mental health, after receiving backlash for missing her last bankruptcy hearing to go on holiday to Cyprus.
She had been due to give evidence about her finances at London’s High Court that month, but at the start of the hearing lawyers said that she had told them at the last minute she could not attend due to health issues – though a judge described this excuse as ‘scanty’.
Katie then jetted off on holiday to Ayia Napa with her MAFS star boyfriend JJ Slater, attracting a backlash – but told her podcast The Katie Price Show she had been signed off from court because she was ‘mentally not strong enough’.
Price was declared bankrupt for a second time in March over an unpaid tax bill of £761,994.05 after first being declared bankrupt in 2019
Her latest planned trip to Turkey comes despite being due in court on Tuesday – she has since insisted she would ‘put matters right’ on her return
Price was pictured earlier this month at a Paris 2024 Paralympic Games launch party in London, alongside her boyfriend JJ Slater
She said: ‘Everyone is like, “Oh, she’s missed bankruptcy and she’s gone on holiday” – no, let me address it.
‘The court knew that I wasn’t going to my bankruptcy, because mentally – my consultant at The Priory – I’ve been signed off for any kind of activity for court.
‘I’m mentally not strong enough at the moment to stand in court, be cross-examined in front of the media and public.
‘I am taking my bankruptcy so serious, like I do everything else. It’s a very serious situation I’m in and it does look like, “Oh, she’s just gone on holiday”.
‘No, my head at the moment needs a break. I had four days in my diary where I was able to go away.
‘When I say I’m not mentally able and stable to stand in court at the moment because I have a lot of things going on behind the scenes I’m dealing with.
‘Hence I haven’t been on TikTok for months, since December, I’m only doing what my body and brain will let me do at the moment.’
She continued: ‘I am taking the bankruptcy seriously. It’s not like I’ve jetted off on a bloody five-star holiday. I’m not in a £760-a-night hotel.
Price was previously served with an eviction notice ordering her to leave her East Sussex home dubbed ‘Mucky Mansion’ by the end of May this year
The six cars now ordered to be removed include a Volkswagen Beetle, a Nissan Elgrand, a Range Rover Vogue (black), a Suzuki Vitara, an Infiniti FX50 and another Range Rover (pink)
‘It’s not my fault that my friend came to this hotel a week before me and told them that I was coming and to look after me. So when I came here they upgraded me for nothing, this holiday was actually a very cheap holiday.’
In an Instagram post today, the mother-of-five dismissed recent claims that she had now travelled to the Trio Clinic Turkey after being turned down by other cosmetic surgeons.
She said: ‘I’m filming my new documentary. The reason I’ve chose the Trio Clinic is because I’ve had friends who have had surgery there and in my opinion they are the best for what I want doing.
‘I can’t wait, they’re amazing, and they’re thorough here.’
