Kyle Walker: Court dispute would not happen if I was ‘painter and decorator’

Kyle Walker told a family court that a dispute with Lauryn Goodman over payments for their children would “not have got this far” if he were a “painter and decorator”.

The England vice-captain was involved in a legal battle with the model and influencer earlier this month over the amount of money he should pay to support their one-year-old daughter Kinara, the pair’s second child.

The two children were born outside of Mr Walker’s marriage to Annie Kilner Walker, with whom he has four sons.

The Central Family Court in London heard from Ms Goodman, 33, that Mr Walker “does not think” about the situation of her and their children while the footballer said that some of her demands were “disproportionate”.

He said: “I do feel that because of who I am and what I do, and the money that I have, you are taking well out of consideration what is actually needed.

“If I was a painter and decorator, I don’t think we would have got this far.”

The court heard that Mr Walker, 34, had seen Kairo four times and Kinara once, with Judge Edward Hess stating in his ruling that Ms Goodman “wished the relationship to develop further than it has”.

He added that Mr Walker’s decision to “draw a line” under their relationship in favour of focusing on his marriage was a “source of disappointment, anguish and anger” for Ms Goodman, and that the footballer “does not currently plan to repeat” the “small number of fleeting encounters” he has had with their children.

In her evidence, Ms Goodman said she did not want her children to be “different” from Mr Walker’s children with his wife and that the money was to “secure my children’s future”.

She said: “He (Mr Walker) has formed a bond with Kairo, who is now sat there asking for his dad.

She continued: “I would do anything for my child. If that meant that the father of my child would have a relationship with my child, I would facilitate that.”

She said: “You ask for things and then you get ignored, and then you get put into this situation.

“It does not matter for him (Mr Walker).

“He does not think about your situation and what you are having to deal with.”

The court heard that Ms Goodman made several financial demands of Mr Walker running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mr Walker opposed some of the demands or argued they should be decreased, despite earning between £3 million and £5 million per year.

In written submissions, Nichola Gray KC, for Ms Goodman, said: “This is a sum which will make a very significant difference to the mother’s and the children’s lives, but is a sum which will make no difference at all to this father.

“This case is not about affordability. The father plainly has the means, and ample means, to satisfy each and every claim which the mother has made.”

She added that Kinara’s birth had “inevitably caused a radical change in the daily childcare burden” that Ms Goodman faces as a single mother, claiming that Mr Walker “completely underestimates” the “task of juggling the needs of two children single-handedly”.

She continued: “Regrettably, it is difficult not to conclude that Ms Goodman has leveraged her position and sees this as an opportunity to try and achieve an award which goes well beyond the additional costs of a second child.”

The previous court battle over payments related to the pair’s son resulted in Mr Walker being ordered to pay several costs including monthly child maintenance of £8,000 and more than £180,000 in lump sums.

He also later purchased a £2.4 million property in Sussex for Ms Goodman and their children.

Ms Gray said that under a court order issued in January this year, Mr Walker needed to pay £7,000 a month in child maintenance to Ms Goodman for Kinara.

She said that the footballer had been “repeatedly late” in paying nursery fees and that he ”unilaterally reduced” maintenance payments to £839 a month, accusing him of “arrogance”.

In response, Mr Walker apologised and admitted he “did do that deduction”, but “did not leave Lauryn short” as he had overpaid in the previous two months.

He said: “I feel that in certain things in all of this, I have been more than generous, more than generous, than what I should have been or was ordered to be.”

He later added: ”I have paid every single bit of money that has been asked of me.”

Judge Hess ruled that Mr Walker should not be penalised for the arrears, which he described as “an error by the father”.