Kerry Katona fined after claiming she’s ‘too busy’ to take child to school

kerry katona fined

by Eden-Olivia Lord |
Updated on

The former Atomic Kitten star claimed work commitments and lack of childcare were to blame

Kerry Katona has pleaded guilty for failing to send her child to school after they missed 45 days of attendance without an explanation.

Although the mum-of-five to Molly, 17, Lilly-Sue, 16, Heidi, 12, Maxwell, 11, and Dylan-Jorge, five, didn't attend court, she pleaded guilty and was fined £875.

Check out: Celebrity women guilty of dating lawbreakers

Gallery

Celebrity women guilty of finding love with lawbreakers

lawbreakers1 of 10
CREDIT: instagram

Ferne McCann and Arthur Collins

Ferne might be one of our TOWIE favourites, but the gorgeous Essex girl has been very unlucky in love. Her relationship with Charlie Sims played out spectacularly while she was on TOWIE, and during her time on Celebs Go Dating she never met anyone who she was interested in.However, just days after publically talking about her plans to marry her now-boyfriend Arthur Collins, the police issued an appeal to find him in connection to an acid attack at a club in London over the bank holiday weekend. He is now serving time.

lawbreakers2 of 10
CREDIT: instagram

Gemma Collins and Stephen Mortimer

Gemma and Stephen had an on-and-off relationship. He spent two years in prison for grievous bodily harm, and during Gemma's stint in Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, he was back in prison for allegedly breaching his license terms.When she left the house, she also had to face rumours that he had cheated on her numerous times.

lawbreakers3 of 10
CREDIT: getty

Kerry Katona and George Kay

Kerry and George have had a tumultuous relationship, and although they called it quits in 2015, the couple decided to rekindle their relationship in August 2016.However, during the time of their marriage breakdown George was allegedly detained for assault and unlawful possession of a taser. He also previously served a three-year prison sentence for blackmail.

lawbreakers4 of 10
CREDIT: getty

Mel B and Stephen Belafonte

Mel B filed for divorce from her husband of ten years, Stephen Belafonte after ten years together. The couple share a daughter, Madison. In the leaked papers Mel cited irreconcilable differences as grounds for divorce.Since then, it has come to light that Mel made many allegations against the film producer, including that he was reportedly physically and verbally abusive throughout their marriage.

lawbreakers5 of 10
CREDIT: twitter

Lauren Goodger and Joey Morrison

Lauren has received a lot of bad press about the men she has dated. When she first appeared on TOWIE, she had been dating Mark Wright for the best part of eight years before they went their separate ways.Lauren then went on to date Jake McLean for four years, and then moved onto Joey Morrison. He's a friend of a friend who was serving time in prison for violent drugs-related charges,

lawbreakers6 of 10
CREDIT: instagram

Steph Davis and Jeremy McConnell

Steph and Jeremy had an on-off relationship for the best part of 2016 after meeting in the Celebrity Big Brother house.When Steph announced she was pregnant, Jeremy refused to believe he was the father and throughout the pregnancy she was determined to raise her baby on her own.However, when Caben-Albi was born Jeremy stepped up and appeared to be trying to make up for lost time. The couple reunited, but shortly afterwards reports swirled that Jeremy had been arrested on suspicion of assault.Before the news broke, Steph had shared a picture of her bruised body on Snapchat, prompting fans to believe she may have been the victim. Jeremy denied any wrongdoing.

lawbreakers7 of 10
CREDIT: twitter

Daniella Westbrook and Tom Richards

Daniella dated cage fighter Tom Richards, and they even got engaged before the relatinoship broke down in 2015.Following their break-up, Daniella claimed that Tom had violently attacked her although the charges were eventually dropped.

lawbreakers8 of 10
CREDIT: tv

Chantelle Houghton and Alex Reid

Chantelle was engaged to Katie Price's ex, Alex Reid, and the former couple share a daughter, Dolly.But just weeks after Chantelle gave birth, cage fighter Alex was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to the couple's Brentwood home and the pair split shortly after.

lawbreakers9 of 10
CREDIT: getty

Katie Price and Leandro Penna

Katie and Leandro met at an Oscars party in 2011 and started dating soon after, even getting engaged for six months before the relationship ended.Although he appeared to have a squeaky clean image, in 2013 Leandro was accused of assault after a disagreement at a party in London, hinting that Katie's ex was more of a bad boy than anyone initially thought.

lawbreakers10 of 10
CREDIT: twitter

Cara Kilby and Daniel Harris

Cara Kilby only had a brief stint on TOWIE, but she was a firm favourite with viewers.Her boyfriend, Daniel, was sentenced to two years in prison after being accussed of leading a gang that sold drugs across London.

The court heard that the 38-year-old star failed to attend meetings with the school and didn't respond to numerous letters sent.

At Brighton Magistrates Court, it was claimed that that the reason behind the child's absence was because they'd been unwell and Kerry had been busy with work.

kerry katona
©Getty Images

Kerry's defendant said: "Some of the time, Miss Katona has contacted the school and some of the time, she has not.

"The child has missed school sometimes due to work commitments when Miss Katona has been out of the school area and has no child care."

They went on to add: "Her financial situation is not great. She was subject to bankruptcy. She is anxious to provide for her children."

Despite Kerry's argument, she was fined £500 and had to also pay £325 for costs and £50 for victim surcharge.

The news comes after she failed to attend court earlier this year because she had a public appearance at a motivational speaking event in Scotland.

This isn't the first time Kerry has been fined as a result of one of her children failing to attend school, in 2017 she went on holiday with her family to Barbados and failed to pay a fine.

WATCH: Lizzie Cundy plays celebrity Snog, Marry, Avoid | Liam Payne, Wes Nelson or Brian McFadden

READ MORE

Kerry Katona called out for FAT SHAMING Gary Barlow

Kerry Katona: 'Most of my husbands were pr**ks'

Kerry Katona says Vogue Williams 'wouldn’t give her the time of day' when married to Brian McFadden

Kerry Katona
©Getty

During the previous hearing, Kerry argued to have reporting restrictions on the case which would prevent the charge she faces and her name coming to light. She claimed that her little one's attendance was a "private matter", however the magistrates ruled against her.

The news comes after a source told Closer magazine that while Kerry wasn’t successful on Celebs Go Dating, she’s feeling in a great place, mentally and physically, and is keen to keep dating.

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us