Today’s hearing into Katie Price’s bankruptcies – which was also attended by the star’s ex-husband Alex Reid –
The former glamour model, 46, was due to face questions from barristers in a specialist bankruptcy court on Tuesday in a hearing known as a public examination.
But a judge adjourned the hearing after her lawyers asked for her to attend a ‘private interview’ with lawyers representing the trustee of her bankruptcies.
Bertie Beor-Roberts, for Price, said: ‘We are asking the court to adjourn the examination generally.’
He continued: ‘The general purpose is to permit Price to attend a private interview with the trustee and then to continue to engage constructively.’
Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nicholas Briggs agreed to the adjournment and asked Price whether she would give an undertaking to the court that she would attend the private interview on September 24.
Price replied: ‘I do.’
He added that her ‘mental wellbeing and privacy’ could be impacted by a public hearing, and that her health conditions ‘would be exacerbated by public examination of her financial affairs’.
He argued that Price would be ‘able to give more answers in (a) private interview where there was no pressure from the media’, adding that there was a ‘real interest in Price giving that evidence which would be more helpful to the trustee and provide a resolution’.
Darragh Connell, representing the trustee, said it was ‘appropriate’ to adjourn the hearing ‘on the basis that Price will attend that private interview’, adding that Price had instructed a barrister ‘less than 24 hours’ before the hearing.
He said: ‘There has been an element of cooperation throughout proceedings. Since the arrest warrant, there has been more compliance.’
As she left the building past the reporters, Price hit out at the media calling them ‘scumbags’.
Price found herself in hot water after she failed to turn up to her last court date in July while she was in Turkey getting ‘£10,0000 worth’ of cosmetic surgery.
On her return the Mucky Mansion star was arrested at Heathrow Airport. Police were carrying out orders from a judge who issued a warrant for her arrest for failing to attend a previous hearing.
She was later bailed – with a warning to stay in the country this time – and today turned up to face further questioning on her finances in London.
Dressed in head-to-toe black the star arrived at the Rolls Building today wearing some huge sunglasses and clutching a black bag as she hopped out a black cab and into the building.
The hearing before Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nicholas Briggs started at 10.30am.
Shortly after the start of the trial Price’s ex-husband Reid also turned up to court wearing a cream t-shirt and white shorts.
The pair married in 2010 but separated a year later, divorcing in 2012.
In 2019, he won a court case against her after she allegedly showed sexually explicit photos and videos of him to a Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit On The Side TV audience, and was awarded £250,000 in compensation and legal costs.
In January this year MMA fighter Reid claimed he had only received £1,000 from Price and bailiffs were seen attending her home, reportedly to take items equalling the amount owed to him.
Price was first declared bankrupt in 2019, and in February this year was ordered to pay 40% of her monthly income from the adult entertainment website OnlyFans to the trustee of her bankruptcy until February 2027.
She was then made bankrupt for a second time in March due to an unpaid tax bill worth more than £750,000 owed to HM Revenue & Customs.
Price attended court in London in early August and was told by a judge at the hearing that there would be ‘no ifs, no buts’ and she must attend a ‘public examination’ on August 27.
The mother-of-five confirmed that she understood that she must attend and later added: ‘I will move my diary for it.’
The hearing was held at the Rolls Building, but Price attended via a video link from an office of High Court enforcement staff at the Royal Courts of Justice nearby after arriving on foot.
During the hearing, Price asked the judge whether she could attend the hearing today remotely as she said she finds it ‘difficult in a court’, saying: ‘Am I able to do it by Zoom or in a side room?’
‘No,’ the judge replied, adding that she could apply to attend remotely and ‘it does not take Einstein to do it.’
She said that she did not have legal representation, telling the court: ‘I have tried to get legal advice but have been charged £50,000 upfront.’
She added: ‘I have been asking for legal representation for all of this and no one would do it.’
In May, the TV personality moved out of her £2million Mucky Mansion after reportedly being served an eviction notice.
She maintains that it was her choice to move out after reports of attempted burglary and an acid attack on her pink Range Rover.
Price insisted she took the trip to Turkey in July in order to earn money, as she was filming for a documentary about corrective surgery.
‘I have to continue in my work in order to satisfy these bankruptcy orders which is all I am trying to do right now,’ she said at the time.
‘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,’ she added.
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