Former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona has been convicted of failing to ensure the regular school attendance of one of her five children.
Katona, 38, who had initially denied the offence, failed to attend Brighton Magistrates' Court last Wednesday (8th May 2019), but her solicitor entered a guilty plea on her behalf.
Under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 a parent is guilty of an offence if they fail to secure the regular attendance of their child at the school they are registered at. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000).
Gareth Jones, prosecuting on behalf of East Sussex County Council, said the child's attendance rate had dropped as low as 48 percent.
He added the child missed a 'significant and lengthy period of education' between April - November 2018.
"Miss Katona met with the council and discussed the importance of her child attending school. Unfortunately attendance got worse and went down to 48 percent.
"There's a failure to engage here. She's not attending meetings, letters are not being responded to. This is a problem that has gone on for some time."
Ed Fish, defending, told the court: "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."
It's not the first time that Katona has found herself in trouble due to her children's absence from school. She was accused of the same charge back in 2017 when she took her family on a holiday to Barbados and failed to pay the resulting fine.
Magistrates fined Katona £500, ordered her to pay £325 towards prosecution costs and £50 victim surcharge.
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