'Katie is a manipulator. She will want revenge': As Katie Price's ex is cleared of rape, friends reveal their 'disgust' at her behaviour... and how she may be using her kids and ill mum to launder her damaged reputation

In the dark days after Kieran Hayler was arrested on suspicion of rape last year, rumours swirled that his bitter ex-wife, Katie Price, might have had some hand in it.

Nobody I spoke to was quite sure what part, if any, she had to play, but it was clear that she still despised Kieran, having never got over him cheating on her with her then-best friend Jane Pountney in 2014, just a year after they were married.

Katie was called to testify as a witness in Kieran’s trial this month because the allegations against him dated back to when they were together.

But at the summing up of the case at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, which found Kieran, 39, not guilty of all charges – three counts of rape and one of sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl in West Sussex in 2016 – the judge lambasted Katie for her performance in court.

Judge Mark van der Zwart even told the jury to disregard a portion of Katie’s testimony, describing her as ‘what barristers of a previous generation would have called a “dangerous witness”’.

Indeed, during the case, Kieran accused Katie of setting him up with ‘fabricated’ allegations and even claimed she had orchestrated a ‘smear campaign’, which she denied. Meanwhile, Kieran’s lawyers argued Katie launched a ‘premeditated attempt to bring down this trial’.

Even for Katie, who refuses to allow any criticism to bother her, it is extremely damaging. And now, I’m told that even some of those in her circle are ‘disgusted’ by her.

They say messages shown in court, which Katie exchanged with Kieran’s alleged victim in 2014, were particularly telling.

Katie’s message said: ‘Did he kiss you? I won’t bring up anymore just want truth. I will make you a little star.’

‘Katie is a master manipulator, it’s what she does and who she is,’ says a long-term associate of Katie’s. ‘Every situation is about her, and how it benefits her. She is the least forgiving person and if anyone ever wrongs her she will never forget about it.

‘And of course she will want her revenge [on Kieran]. She falls out with everyone. It’s what fuels her. And God forbid anyone who goes against her. She will just cut you off.’

Kieran’s arrest, time on bail and subsequent trial have been difficult for everyone in Hayler and Price’s orbits. For legal reasons I can’t share some of it, but I do know that Kieran has lost a lot as a result of the false allegations made against him.

It’s also been an especially torrid time for Katie’s children from her first marriage to Peter Andre in 2005, Junior and Princess.

‘They have always been quite fond of Kieran,’ says my insider. ‘Having it hanging over the family for so long has been hard for all of the kids.’

Katie first met Kieran in 2012 after she had split from long-term boyfriend Leandro Penna. At the time Kieran was a builder and part-time stripper but he soon joined her as a media star, conducting interviews with celebrity magazines, and a year later they were married.

However, the pair split in 2017 after Kieran had a fling with yet another of Katie’s friends, Chrissy Thomas.

Those close to Katie say she was aware that the judge’s stern criticism of her performance in court will hardly have put her in an enviable light. And while she ignores most of what her critics say about her, she has always been committed to shaping her story in the media – and this latest saga will likely prove no exception.

That is why, say sources, she decided this week it was time to put the engagement ring from her fourth and most recent ex-husband Lee Andrews back on. Katie married him in a shock wedding in Dubai in January, having known Lee for less than a week. They split nine months later in September. Katie ensured she was pictured wearing the ring on the same day as Kieran was cleared – and she was humiliated by the judge.

‘This is classic Katie,’ says a source close to her. ‘She knows to flood the internet with an alternative story when there is another which isn’t going her way. She suspected she was going to get a hammering from the judge so hoped they’d move the attention away from that if she put the pictures out on the day of the verdict.

‘She knows how it all works, and will use any situation to benefit her. She put her engagement ring back on, went out with her eldest son Harvey and guess what, there was a photographer there.’

Along with those paparazzi pictures, when Kieran’s not guilty verdict was delivered on Thursday night, she posted a number of ‘stories’ to her Facebook account which included her selling cheap tops, as well as unearthed clips from her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother back in 2015.

She also shared interviews with Princess and Junior from the red carpet at Monday night’s Pride of Britain Awards.

‘Katie is not popular right now,’ says a source. ‘She thinks she’s Teflon but this one might really stick. A lot of lives have been affected by the accusations made about Kieran. It might not be quite so easy for her to run away from it all this time.

‘Especially after the judge’s comments. That was damning for her.’

Meanwhile, more scorn has been poured on Katie by those who know her for apparently using her terminally ill 74-year-old mother, Amy, who has a serious lung condition (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), as an excuse not to return to the court for more questioning, claiming Amy only had days left to live.

As for what the future holds, my source says: ‘Surely this is the turning point for her. How can anyone want to work with her after this?’

While Katie hasn’t tended to secure big brand deals, she has been paid significant sums by the red-top press for her stories.

‘Can she be trusted now?’ asks an old friend of Katie’s. ‘That now could be a problem for her.’

As for Kieran, who left the court with his mother Wendy on Friday, those who know him say he was ‘deeply upset and affected’ by the charges brought against him.

‘It will take him a long time to rebuild his life,’ says a source. ‘He has lost so much from this: It is heartbreaking. So many people left him, they dropped him like a hot stone and now he needs to decide if he wants them back or not.’

But one person who Kieran won’t be racing to see is Katie.

‘He never, ever, ever wants to see her again,’ says the source.