44-year-old former glamour model Katie Price avoids prison as she is sentenced for breaching a restraining order by sending text messages to her ex-husband.
While she was warned she was “at risk” of going to prison, her defence – led by Westgate Chambers’ Nicholas Hamblin – helped Ms Price avoid prison. This outcome was made even more surprising given she had received a suspended sentence of 16 weeks in December 2021 after crashing her car in Sussex.
On the 27th of April Ms Price initially pleaded not guilty to a single charge of breaching a restraining order by sending the texts in January. She then requested to be tried in court and changed her plea to guilty when she was asked to enter a formal plea when the trial started on the 25th May.
Katie Price found guilty but avoids prison
When Judge Stephen Mooney delivered his sentence on the 24th June, he told Ms Price she had definitely been “at risk” of going to prison given she’d ultimately admitted to breaching the restraining order.
However, despite being at risk of going to jail, instead of meting out a prison term the Judge sentenced her to a medium-level community order for 170 hours of community service to be completed within 18 months. He also ordered her to pay £1,500 in costs over the next 28 days.
It was also noted that the 170 hours of community service included 150 hours for violating the restraining order and another the 20 hours for breaching the suspended sentence for her driving offence. Judge Mooney was satisfied this was punishment enough saying “it would be unjust to activate the suspended sentence order.”
In mitigation Mr Hamblin said the offence “was a one-off” and was “a case that can be dealt with by a financial penalty and mark it with a community order” before adding “Katie is willing and capable to undertake unpaid work and takes these proceedings very seriously”.
Nicholas Hamblin was instructed by Joe Harrington of Harrington Solicitors Ltd.
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