'I'm so relieved,' confesses Katie Price as police admit they're powerless to act on rape claim



Katie Price was said to be 'hugely relieved' last night after police confirmed that they would not be investigating claims she had been raped by a celebrity.

The mother-of-three has reportedly vowed to keep a low profile over the the next few weeks and is determined 'to draw a line under the whole sorry episode', according to reports.

Price, 31, is said to have told friends that she was stunned at the attention her confession received.

Getaway: Katie Price and boyfriend Alex make a hasty exit from her Surrey home

Taking flight: Katie was seen in her customised Beetle escaping the furore by flying off in a helicopter from Biggin Hill

'I never expected it to blow up like this. I want it to go away,' she is quoted as telling friends in a report by The Mirror.

The news comes after she made a determined effort to return to her normal routine yesterday after a tumultuous week.



The glamour model left her Surrey home in her customised pink Beetle for Biggin Hill air base where she boarded a helicopter.



And as she flew off to an undisclosed location, police admitted they were powerless to pursue her rape allegations unless she made a formal complaint.



Surrey Police confirmed officers had spoken to Katie, 31, but that the force lacked 'substantiated information' about the alleged attack.



A spokesman said an 'incident' has been recorded but Price must speak to them if they are to formally record a crime and start an inquiry.

Escape: Katie left Biggin Hill airfield in a helicopter for an undisclosed destination

A Surrey Police spokesman said the situation could change if new information came to light.



He said: 'Surrey Police treats all reports of sexual offences very seriously and investigates them thoroughly, encouraging anyone who may have been a victim to come forward and providing specialist officers to support them.

'Based on our inquiries and the lack of substantiated information - particularly around locations and dates of any allegations - we have recorded an incident, but due to its very historic nature we are dependent on Miss Price's co-operation to formally record a crime and continue any investigation.



'Should any new information come to light, it will be diligently investigated and this position may be reviewed.'

No comment: Price and her son Harvey in London yesterday. After being visited by police last night, she refused to make a statement about the rape claims

Local officers spoke to her at her home in Woldingham, Surrey, last night about the allegations and fears that she was targeted by a bogus police officer.

She declined to give a formal statement and officers no longer believe she was visited by anyone pretending to be from the police.

Detectives wanted to question the glamour girl over allegations in her magazine column and a subsequent interview that a 'famous celebrity' subjected her to a brutal sex attack.

Denial: Warren Furman, who dated the model for two years has angrily denied he is the celebrity who raped her

Price - also known as Jordan - initially said she would 'absolutely never' name the man and had no plans to make an official report to police.

But Surrey Police made contact with her representatives yesterday after it emerged she let the alleged attacker's name slip off-air during filming of her ITV2 reality show What Katie Did Next.

After being visited by officers last night, she refused to make a statement after internet rumours pointed the finger of suspicion at him.

However, speculation was still mounting that the celebrity could be named publicly like John Leslie, the former TV presenter who was suspected after Ulrika Jonsson made her own anonymous allegation, which he strongly denied.

Yesterday Price's former fiance Gladiator Warren Furman blasted claims he was her attacker.



The 37-year-old told the Daily Star: 'Whoever she claims raped her, it is certainly not me and I don't think anyone would believe anything she said anyway.'

Furman, who dated Jordan for two years, is thought to have addressed the rumour after internet gossip pointed the finger of suspicion at him.



To start a meaningful inquiry, police would need Price's cooperation and details of when the alleged attack happened and the names of any witnesses who could corroborate what happened.

As police made their move yesterday, there was mounting cynicism about Price's true motives for revealing her alleged rape ordeal several years ago.

Recently, she has milked publicity about her divorce from 90s pop star Peter Andre and media figures claimed she might be aiming to 'cash in' by selling the rape story.

But detectives believe they have an obligation to investigate further and have arranged a full interview with her.



Another day, another interview: Peter Andre appears on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross yesterday, but he avoids discussing his estranged

wife's rape allegations

Senior sources stressed that it was too early to say whether a full-scale inquiry will begin.

Price first made the sex attack revelation after newspaper stories appeared about her actor boyfriend Alex Reid allegedly filming a rape scene for a forthcoming movie. The model said reporting the matter to police was a 'hard thing to do'.

The alleged attack is said to have taken place several years ago after a party in the West End following a series of secret dates between Price and the unnamed man.

Surrey Police said Price has been contacted but had not been spoken to 'in depth'. A source said: 'We are trying to establish whether any offence has occurred. We need to see her because very serious allegations have surfaced in the media.'

But the alleged attacker's identity has since been widely circulated in showbiz and media circles and it is only a question of time before the name becomes public knowledge.

A show insider revealed there was a three-line whip at the ITV2 studio.

A handful of people know who it is but they are absolutely not allowed to even tell their loved ones,' the sources was quoted in The Sun.



Price maintains she will never name the attacker but with it now 'out there', her alleged rapist faces a battle to remain anonymous.

Yesterday, one anonymous celebrity approached by national newspaper reporters categorically denied any involvement.



Understanding: Katie Price contacted the Matthew Wright show during a TV debate to defend her actions in saying the rapist was a celebrity

Price yesterday called in to Channel Five's Matthew Wright show to say she would 'take to the grave' the identity of the rapist, who she described to friends as 'vicious'.



One friend said she had been grabbed round the throat during the assault which left her 'devastated'.

'She told how he became violent towards her after not getting his way.

'At one point he made a move for her throat. It sounded terrible,' the friend told The Mirror. 'At the time she was too scared to report it.'

Sources have revealed that the ordeal took place at a party in London's West End before she met and married ex-husband Peter Andre.

She and the attacker are thought to have been on secret dates and 'got on well' before the alleged attack.

The friend added: 'She was shocked by some of the lewd things he used to come out with.

'It was clear he was highly sexed and in hindsight, it should have served as a warning sign. She wishes she had nothing to do with him'.

Yesterday, Katie rang Channel Five after watching the panel debate her decision to say she had been sexually assaulted by a celebrity.

She said she was 'livid' at the storm that had been whipped up around her allegations and denied they were a cynical publicity stunt.

Speaking to show host Matthew Wright, she said: 'I'm sitting here watching the programme - we're all here doing a shoot. Thanks for sticking up for me Matthew - you understand the media.



'I haven't just come out and said I got raped, I was actually sticking up for Alex. It come out in the newspapers that he was doing this rape thing and I stuck up for him in my OK column.



'I would never do something like that for sympathy. It has all got out of context, I think it is really out of order to say I would do it for sympathy I would never do that.'



Katie claims she would never use the crime to promote herself and said she never thought it would be all over the papers.

Defence: Katie with boyfriend Alex Reid. The model said she only spoke about the rape to defend him from claims his new film glorified rape

She said: 'I have mentioned it in my column, then I did a shoot with the kids and the press have gone on and on about it. I am absolutely livid - they dig and dig and dig.



'I don't make a joke about it - it is a serious matter. I woke up this morning and it's over the front of the newspapers.'

When asked whether she would go to the police, she replied: 'It happened absolutely years ago and like anyone, it's just a hard thing to do.



'It's been done now, what do you do? I would say if something happens you should go to the police. It was definitely rape - I didn't consent to it.'

Wright then asked the mother of three Katie if she would go on to name her attacker and said that speculation was rife about who it could be.

But she replied: 'Never, never, absolutely not.'



Ironically it was Wright who accidentally named television presenter John Leslie as the celebrity Ulrika Jonsson had been referring to when she claimed she had been raped.

Like Price she had made the claim but refused to publicly identify her attacker. Leslie always denied it and was never charged.

Wright said today that people were quizzing him, because of his previous gaffe and reeling off a list of her previous lovers for confirmation.

Peter Andre yesterday held out an olive branch to the singer as he talked about his hopes for a reconciliation with the mother of two of his children.

The singer, who was promoting his new album, Revelations, said: 'I have said before that I reckon for the sake of the kids, you will compromise and do things and I think yes there will be a point.

'So you know you've got to allow time for things to settle I think. I have thought about it for the kids but not how or when or whatever. I just know that time is a healer, everybody says that.



In an interview on Live From Studio Five, Peter also said that if he did meet anyone else then he wouldn't want to put them on camera.