Kerry Katona is back in court AGAIN accused of sending one of her five children to school 

Kerry Katona today pleaded not guilty to failing to send one of her children to school regularly for a month and will now face trial in October.

The former Atomic Kitten singer, 38, appeared before Brighton Magistrates where she faced a single charge relating to her child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Wearing black trousers and a black blouse with white stars, the mother-of-five turned reality TV star confirmed her name and address and birth date.

The Loose Women and Celebs Go Dating TV star, who lives in the East Sussex town of Crowborough, was charged with failing to ensure one of her children attended school regularly between October 31 last year and November 28 last year.

When she was asked how she pleaded to the charge she said: ‘Not guilty.’

Jason La Corbiniere, defending, said Katona did not dispute that fact the child didn’t go to school between the relevant dates but said the child was too ill to attend.

Reporting restrictions which would prevent the identification of her child were lifted to allow press to report the proceedings.

It is the third time the I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here! 2004 winner has faced the same charges.

In 2017 was charged with the same office when she took her family on holiday to Barbados.

Katona will go on trial for the latest alleged offence on October 7. 

In May she was fined £500 after pleading guilty to a similar charge in respect of a different child.

In that case the mother of five, told the court she had difficult financial problems and had difficulty finding childcare.

As a result she said she would take her children on professional engagements instead of sending them to school which had led to a fall in the attendance.

Brighton Magistrates Court was told that at its worst her child’s school attendance dropped from 80 percent to 48 per cent.

Katona has been married three times. Firstly to former Westlife star Brian McFadden, then taxi driver Mark Croft and then George Kay.

Ms Katona admits her child failed to attend school but pleaded guilty claiming the child was too ill to be there

Katona (right) was one of the three original members of the pop group Atomic Kitten. She is pictured with Natasha Hamilton and Liz McClarnon in 1998

She and Kay split in 2015 and she was forced to take out an injunction against him after a series of domestic incidents.

Earlier this month Kay was tragically found dead in his Cheshire home from a suspected drug overdose.

Last week Katona admitted she was in counselling over his death because she was ‘haunted’ by the tragedy.

Katona has her sights set on a new relationship after signing up for Celebs Go Dating.

The singer and presenter said of the E4 show: ‘It was really, really intimidating for me. All people know me for is being loud and a gob on legs and very confident when it comes to dating.

‘I met my first hubby when I was 18. I’ve always really committed to a relationship, so when you have to walk into a room full of men, for me it was really daunting, like, ‘Oh my God, I feel a bit mortified.’