Kieran Hayler, the former husband of Katie Price, told jurors he is “attracted to older women” while denying allegations that he raped a 13-year-old girl.
Giving evidence at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, the 39-year-old former stripper said every serious relationship he had been involved in was with a woman older than him.
Hayler was married to former glamour model Price when the alleged offences took place in West Sussex in 2016. He is accused of raping the teenager.
He denies three charges of rape and one of sexual assault, telling the jury that he believed the allegations had been “fabricated”.
Hayler also alleged that Price had “coached” the complainant after finding messages in which his then-wife suggested he was interested in the girl and said she would make her “a little star”.
When asked about his relationships, Hayler said: “I am attracted to older women.” He maintained that all of his significant partners had been older than him.
He acknowledged having affairs with three women during his marriage to Price, but told the court that she had also been unfaithful.
Hayler said the couple’s relationship had become strained by the middle of 2013, adding that “trust had gone on both sides”.
Hayler and Katie Price were married from 2013 until 2021
The former couple attended the UK premiere of Fifty Shades Darker in London in 2017
He claimed Price had accused him of being attracted to between 15 and 20 other people during their troubled marriage.
Hayler told jurors that he came across messages between Price and the alleged victim in 2017, when he was looking through his wife’s phone for evidence that she was having an affair.
“I thought she would be using she thought I fancied other people to warrant having this affair,” he said.
The court had previously heard that Price messaged the teenager saying she had been told Hayler and the girl had kissed and that he had “tried it on” with her.
In a separate message, the former glamour model allegedly told the girl: “I will make you a little star.”
Hayler said the conversation appeared suspicious to him, prompting him to photograph the messages using his own phone.
Defence barrister Arlette Piercy asked why he had taken the photographs. Hayler replied: “Because she made out that I fancied (the complainant).”
“I thought, ‘This is a bit weird’,” he added.
He said he had opened Price’s phone using his fingerprint, explaining that she had previously accessed his device in the same way.
Asked what the incident indicated about their marriage, Hayler told the court: “The relationship is breaking down.”
Hayler suggested his then-wife had been attempting to influence the teenager into making allegations against him.
MORE ON THIS: More Roller Coasters Closed as Authorities Investigate Fatal Fall at Georgia Amusement Park
He told jurors: ‘Everyone can interpret it how they want, it’s very pushy. It’s a very strange comment to make.
‘I thought she was coaching her into (saying) something she shouldn’t. I didn’t send them anywhere, I took a picture on my phone.’
Price previously defended her use of the phrase ‘little star’ when she was questioned about the messages during cross-examination.
Asked by Ms Piercy what she had meant by the comment, she replied: ‘That’s a figure of speech.’
Hayler told the court he had only recently rediscovered the photographs after retrieving old phones from storage while moving house.
He subsequently passed the images to his solicitor.
The former stripper has suggested Price launched a ‘campaign’ against him following the breakdown of their marriage and that the allegations against him formed part of it.
The couple married in 2013, but their relationship collapsed in 2018 before they divorced in 2021.
Hayler was still married to Price when the alleged offences took place in West Sussex in 2016.
The alleged victim, who is not part of either Hayler or Price’s extended family, first contacted the NSPCC in 2021 about the allegations.
The charity subsequently referred the matter to police, prompting an investigation.
Meanwhile, Hayler pleaded not guilty on Thursday to four additional charges of sexual activity with a child after the prosecution concluded its case.
The lesser charges were added to the indictment as alternatives to the three rape counts and one count of sexual assault.
Judge Mark van der Zwart explained to jurors that the ‘really important difference’ between the original allegations and the alternative charges was that the latter did not refer to the ‘absence of consent’.
He told the jury: ‘It remains a matter entirely for you to decide if prosecution have made you sure any sexual activity took place between the complainant and the defendant Mr Hayler.
‘No suggestion whatsoever from myself you should find any particular verdict of the facts. The position of the parties remains unchanged.’
The judge stressed that the prosecution maintained the complainant had been raped, while Hayler’s defence remained that nothing sexual had happened between them.
If convicted, Hayler faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for rape, ten years for sexual assault and 14 years for sexual activity with a child.
He denies all eight charges.
The trial continues on Friday.