Katie Price reportedly failed to attend a court hearing on Friday because she decided to go on holiday with her boyfriend JJ Slater.
The former glamour model, 45, has been declared bankrupt for a second time after failing to pay over £750,000 in unpaid tax – and will now face losing her home unless HMRC can recover the money.
She was due to give evidence about her finances at the High Court today. However, at the start of the hearing, lawyers said that Price had told them at last minute that she couldn’t attend due to health issues. A judge described this excuse as ‘scanty’.
According to The Sun, Katie has now left the UK and was spotted at the airport with Married At First Sight star JJ.
A source said: ‘Katie and JJ are on holiday in Cyprus. They were seen at the airport looking very loved-up before jetting off together.’
Katie Price reportedly failed to attend a court hearing on Friday because she decided to go on holiday with her boyfriend JJ Slater
Katie has been declared bankrupt for a second time after failing to pay over £750,000 in unpaid tax – and will now face losing her home unless HMRC can recover the money
MailOnline has contacted representatives of Katie Price for comment.
The reality star is now facing the threat of arrest by police after failing to attend a court hearing over her bankruptcy.
The court heard that Katie’s personal assistant had sent a statement from a consultant psychiatrist saying she had anxiety and depression, as well as other issues affecting her mental health.
Barristers for the trustees of Katie’s first bankruptcy asked the judge to order her attendance at a future hearing and said she should be ‘on notice’ that she could be arrested if she did not attend.
Darragh Connell, representing the trustees, told the court: ‘It is important that she is on notice of the fact that this is a possibility.’
In written submissions, he said: ‘The respondent should be in no doubt that any future non-attendance without a reasonable excuse will constitute contempt of court and necessitate an application for a warrant for her arrest.
‘As with any other litigant, the respondent must comply with the orders of the Insolvency and Companies Court or face severe consequences.’
Mr Connell said Katie had been aware of the hearing ‘for a considerable period of time’ and her evidence ‘simply is not good enough’.
A source said: ‘Katie and JJ are on holiday in Cyprus. They were seen at the airport looking very loved-up before jetting off together’
Katie was declared bankrupt for a second time after failing to pay over £750,000 in unpaid tax last month
He said: ‘It is clear that the evidence filed very late is of a variety that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory and we are in a very serious situation as a consequence.
‘In these circumstances, there is deep concern from the trustees that what is happening here is an attempt at the 11th hour to kick things off into the long grass and that should not be allowed to happen.’
Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Mark Mullen said ‘similarly brief’ letters had been sent before previous court hearings which Ms Price also did not attend.
While he described the court as ‘sympathetic’ to people with health conditions, he said: ‘There is a consistent pattern of last-minute adjournments being sought on the basis of scanty medical evidence.
‘This can’t be allowed to drag on on such an unsatisfactory basis.’
Judge Mullen ordered that Katie attend the next hearing unless she gave a reasonable excuse and that she provide medical information so adjustments could be made to ‘facilitate’ her giving evidence.
He said: ‘It is a fact that those who do not attend without a reasonable excuse for public examinations are likely to be arrested.
‘It is important that Ms Price is under no illusion that just like any other bankrupt, she is expected to attend unless there are reasonable reasons why she should be excused.’
Alex Reid leaving the Rolls Building in central London after attending a bankruptcy hearing for his former partner Katie Price
The amount Katie owes is made up of unpaid tax from self-assessment on her earnings from between 2020 and 2022
Alex Reid, Katie’s former partner, was present at the hearing. The former glamour model owes him £250,000 plus legal costs following a court ruling in 2019.
Katie allegedly shared sexual videos and photographs of the former cage fighter, 48. Alex sued his ex-wife for ‘distributing private information – some of it of a sexual nature’, which he said ‘violated his right to privacy.’
Debt collectors were pictured outside her ‘mucky mansion’ earlier this year in an attempt to collect the money, it is understood.
Last month, a judge at the High Court ruled that she be declared bankrupt after an official from HMRC said she has failed to pay any money owed or responded to any correspondence since the demand was made for the unpaid tax last year.
It is the second bankruptcy faced by Katie as she is being chased by creditors for a £3.2million payment over the failure of her company Jordan Trading Ltd which sells perfume and cosmetics.
Judge Sebastion Prentis sitting at the High Court Rolls Building said Katie had been served with a petition on November 27 2023 with a demand for £761,994.05.
The amount is made up of unpaid tax from self-assessment on her earnings from between 2020 and 2022 as well as penalties and surcharges.
The judge said she also owed £140,000 in unpaid VAT and added:’ As with the unpaid tax no payment has been made.’
Katie previously revealed that she didn’t feel able to attend court to discuss her finances.
Speaking exclusively to the Mail’s comedy podcast last month, she said: ‘I just can’t cope with going to a court. Mentally, I can’t do it.’
Katie went on and explained: ‘Since my breakdown. When you are ill and depressed everything accumulates.
‘If you can’t cope with something or you haven’t paid that bill. Communicate, don’t ignore because when you ignore it, it just gets worse.
‘It does upset me because they don’t know how hard I’ve tried mentally to get out of that rut that I was in. A rut that I hung myself and thought I’d died.’
Katie was served with papers in October by HMRC informing her of the debt owed – and she has failed to respond to the demand.
The judge said: ‘There is a substantial debt due from Miss Price due to HMRC and therefore I will make a bankruptcy order.’
Katie was first made bankrupt in 2019 when her company went bust.
She has failed to appear at an insolvency hearing on six previous occasions with the model submitting an excuse for her no show each time.
A HMRC source said every effort will be made to recover the money and if not paid then assets owed by Katie will be seized.
It comes just weeks after Katie was fined £880 after being caught driving a Range Rover at a service station on the A14 in Kettering, Northamptonshire in August 2023 despite having no licence or insurance.
She was handed eight penalty points and also ordered to pay £972 in costs on top of the financial penalty.
