Katie Price's ex-husband Alex Reid jailed for car insurance con

Katie Price’s ex-husband Alex Reid has been jailed for eight weeks for contempt of court after he lied in a witness statement for a compensation claim following a car crash.

The former cage fighter attempted to claim up to £61,000 compensation after his Audi A6 was involved in a car crash with a Seat Leon.

The 45-year-old claimed that a stranger on a motorbike had offered to be a witness after approaching him before police arrived on the A41 in 2018, and in a sworn statement said that he did not know the motorbike rider called Darren Summers, who it was claimed had witnessed the crash.

However, the other motorist’s insurers, Axa Insurance UK, discovered an article on a local news website about an appearance Reid had made at a mixed martial arts (MMA) masterclass in Ipswich in September 2017.

The article stated that Summers, a former European and world kickboxing champion, had organised the event for charity.

Reid admitted contempt of court when Axa initiated High Court committal proceedings against him in January this year.

They argued the Celebrity Big Brother winner should be jailed for ‘knowingly giving a false statement’.

Today, Reid was jailed for eight weeks following a committal hearing at the High Court in London brought by the insurance firm.

He will be released after four weeks on licence after being found guilty of contempt of court.

Justice Eady said that Reid made ‘a deliberate falsehood in which the defendant stood to make significant financial gain’, and rejected any suggestion he should be treated different because of his ‘celebrity’.

The star had tried to claim £50,000 plus £11,500 ‘special damages’, with the court being told that he would likely have received £20,000 had his bid been successful.

Reid is currently expecting a child with his fiancee Nikki Manashe, who is six months pregnant following seven years of trying through IVF.

Manashe initially announced she was pregnant with twins last year, but miscarried one of the babies in December.

Reid’s lawyer Gary Pons had argued that the ‘kind, caring, loving’ former Celebrity Big Brother winner should avoid jail as he is due to become a dad, and described him as ‘an individual who has made mistakes, but whose intentions are always good’.

Pons also said Reid, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s since the crash, has been holding a self defence class in a sixth form college for students with autism and ADHD.

Mrs Justice Eady said she took into account the mitigation put forward on his behalf, but that only a custodial term would reflect the serious nature of his dishonesty.

Reid began dating Katie Price in 2009, and they tied the knot in February 2010 in Las Vegas, before separating in January the following year.

The former MMA star later had a relationship with Celebrity Big Brother star Chantelle Houghton, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Dolly, in June 2012 before they separated four months later.

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