Katie Price's ex-husband Kieran Hayler tells court he is 'attracted to older women' as he denies raping 13-year-old girl

Katie Price's ex-husband Kieran Hayler told a court he is 'attracted to older women' as he denied raping a 13-year-old girl.

The 39-year-old former stripper insisted that all his significant relationships had been with women older than himself as he gave evidence at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday.

Hayler, who was married to the former glamour model at the time of the alleged offences, is accused of raping the teenager in West Sussex in 2016.

He denies three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, telling jurors: 'I believe they've been fabricated.'

The former stripper also accused Price of 'coaching' the alleged victim after discovering messages in which his then-wife suggested he fancied the girl and promised to make her 'a little star'.

Hayler told the court: 'I am attracted to older women', adding that all his significant relationships had been with older women.

He admitted having affairs with three other women during his marriage to Price, but claimed she had also been unfaithful.

The court heard that trust between the couple had broken down by mid-2013, with Hayler telling jurors that 'trust had gone on both sides'.

Kieran Hayler, pictured last week, was married to Katie Price from 2013 to 2021

The former couple at the UK premiere for the film 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 turbulent marriage.

Hayler said he discovered messages between his wife and the alleged victim in 2017 while searching Price's phone for evidence that she was having an affair.

He told jurors: 'I thought she would be using she thought I fancied other people to warrant having this affair.'

The court previously heard that Price had messaged the teenager claiming she had heard Hayler and the girl had kissed and that he had 'tried it on' with her.

In another message, the former glamour model told the girl: 'I will make you a little star.'

Hayler said he found the exchange suspicious and took photographs of the messages on his own phone.

Asked by his defence barrister Arlette Piercy why he had photographed them, he replied: 'Because she made out that I fancied (the complainant).

'I thought, "This is a bit weird."'

He told the court he had accessed Price's phone using his fingerprint, in the same way she had previously accessed his device.

Asked what this showed about their marriage, he said: 'The relationship is breaking down.'

Hayler suggested his then-wife had been attempting to influence the teenager into making allegations against him.

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.