A judge has issued an arrest warrant for former glamour model Katie Price after she failed to attend a hearing relating to her bankruptcies.
Price, who was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March this year, was due to face questions about her finances before a specialist bankruptcy court in London.
Catherine Burton, an Insolvency and Companies Court Judge, said Price had received “very clear warnings” that she must attend the hearing on Tuesday.
A judge at a previous hearing said the former glamour model risked arrest if she did not attend further court dates, adding that evidence must be provided if she could not appear.
Issuing the arrest warrant, 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.”
She continued: “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 ‘fed up’
Price was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March this year.
At a hearing in February, Price was 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.
She was then declared bankrupt for a second time in March due to an unpaid tax bill worth more than £750,000 owed to HM Revenue & Customs.
In October last year, Price said she was “fed up” with being threatened with legal action and would go to prison to be “done with it all”.
She was due to face questions on Tuesday 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”.
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.”
Vehicles ‘not delivered’
Mr Connell said in written arguments that the application for Price to attend was first issued in January 2020, but had been “adjourned on numerous occasions”.
He continued that Price had not asked to attend Tuesday’s hearing remotely and had not asked for it to be adjourned.
The hearing was also due to hear an application by the trustee related to Price’s vehicles.
He continued that Price had indicated she would deliver some of her vehicles to the trustee as she worked to pay off the balance of her bankruptcies, including her “pink Range Rover which has borne a personalised registration plate with (the) initials of the bankrupt”.
But the court was told this had not happened, with Mr Connell stating it was “plain” that the vehicles “will not be delivered up by the bankrupt”.