Katie Price is ‘everything that’s wrong with our country’. At least, according to the internet. The reality TV star made headlines this week after she was sentenced to a suspended jail term for a drink-driving offence in September.
The court heard that Katie admitted to police she had ‘took drugs' and 'should not be driving’ immediately after the incident, with tests showing she had positive readings for cocaine and alcohol. At the time, Katie had also been driving while disqualified and without insurance.
District Judge Amanda Kelly thus served Katie with a 16-week suspended jail sentence, 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 sessions of rehabilitation work with probation – as well as a two-year driving ban. She has also been ordered to pay £213 in costs on top of the £7,358 she already owes the court.
‘The public may be appalled to hear that I can’t send you to jail today,’ the judge said. ‘You appear to think that you are above the law.’ She noted Katie’s five other driving bans as ‘the worst driving record’ she’s ever seen and told the former model she ‘could have easily killed somebody.’
Now, Sussex Police are considering appealing her sentence after backlash from the public. ‘Katie Price who has been banned from driving on 5 Separate occasions, found to have taken drugs and alcohol, driving whilst disqualified and no insurance following crash given a 16-week suspended jail sentence. Ordered to pay £213 in costs already owing the court £7358. JUSTICE?’ one person tweeted.
‘This woman is everything that’s wrong with our country, all wrapped up in plastic! She’s played the system using every card available... and is a complete disgrace,’ another said.
But as the judge referenced in her sentence, there’s a reason Katie wasn’t sent to prison. Back in September, her sentence was adjourned on the condition that she receive substance abuse treatment at The Priory Centre and not commit any further offences - and she did just that. ‘The law says that when a person has complied with the terms of their release then you have a legitimate expectation not to be sent to prison today, even though you deserve to spend Christmas behind bars,’ the judge told her.
Ultimately, everyone is right to question what this says about our justice system – but the conclusion isn’t necessarily that Katie should go to prison. Clearly, there are deeper issues at play here.
Katie has been in and out of rehab for the last two years. In early 2020, she checked herself into mental health care facility The Priory for ‘severe trauma rehabilitation’ after admitting that she had been abusing drugs and alcohol to cope with stress. In February this year, she told Fubar Radio she had been sober ever since checking into The Priory.
At the time, she was out of rehab and felt like ‘a completely different person,’ telling the station ‘now, I’m actually embarrassed [about] how I’ve acted and stuff, but you know, that’s... part of mental health. You can’t help it.’
Katie was back in rehab by October, this time court-ordered due to the drink driving incident. Today, she apologised for it on Instagram. ‘I’m now spending time getting better – mental health is a hidden illness and can strike at any time,’ she wrote. ‘The triggers that cause my anxiety and behaviour are something I’m trying to understand, come to terms with and learn to control moving forward. This will be a long process for myself and something I’ll continue to work on for the rest of my life.’
Her statement begs the question, what is the right form of 'justice' for crimes caused by substance abuse issues? When our ultimate goal is preventing harm - to others and herself - would a jail sentence do that in the same way trauma and addiction therapy could?
People are right to point out that it can often be one rule for a celebrity, another for the rest of us - but perhaps instead of debating the rule, we should be talking about how it's applied fairly for all. Shouldn't a health-based approach be universal, tackling crime with a focus on social care and community programmes - particularly when we know most crime is caused by social and economic issues?
The question then isn't whether our justice system is flawed because of Katie Price's sentence, but whether the same privileges she has been afforded should be granted to all dealing with addiction issues.
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When We Talk About Being Kind, Why Don’t We Extend That Courtesy To Katie Price?