ON THURSDAY he should have been at a concert in Belgium. Last night it should have been Switzerland.
Yesterday, however, Pete Doherty, the singer once noted for his musical talent rather than his weakness for hard drugs, was again in the dock, not on the stage.
Instead of playing before thousands of European fans as scheduled, he found himself spending the night in custody before pleading guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court, East London, to five counts of possessing Class A drugs.
His audience was not composed of screaming fans, but ranks of reporters and photographers, gathered to chart the singer’s latest courtroom appearance.
Today, his mother Jackie talks to The Times Magazine about her futile attempts to protect her son from the temptations of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that he seems determined to follow.
Advertisement
Even the minor details of his appearance yesterday would be enough to upset any parent. The singer was in court dressed in the Levis, black braces and white polo shirt that he had worn when charged after answering bail on Thursday. Doherty, the frontman for the band Babyshambles, looked a far cry from a rock icon as he admitted possessing heroin, cocaine, cannabis and crack.
The court was told that police stopped Doherty at 2pm on April 20, hours after he had been given a two-year community sentence for previous drug offences.
They found in his possession 1.37g of heroin, 1.86g of cocaine — of which 0.64g was crack — and 0.916g of cannabis. On searching his home in East London later that day, police found 1.49g of cannabis.
The court was also told that on August 7 — four days after failing to answer bail — the musician was again found to have drugs in his possession, this time 0.113g of crack, as well as a crack pipe. He is awaiting sentencing for a further two Class A drug offences.
District Judge Alison Rose released him on bail “not without some reservation”, on the condition that he attend The Priory Clinic in Southgate, North London, and obey a nightly 10pm to 8am curfew until sentencing. She granted his request to perform at the Get Loaded festival on Clapham Common next weekend, provided that he is accompanied by clinical staff.
Advertisement
Warning Doherty that he could face jail, Judge Rose said that all options were open to her, adding that “most definitely includes the possibility of custody”.
As his client sat in the dock, ashen-faced with dirty fingernails, Sean Curran, for Doherty, said: “It will not suprise anyone in the court that he is a drug addict with an entrenched problem.
“It’s clear he’s a very talented musician. Unfortunately the chaotic world that accompanies that has led to some of his downfall. He has only hurt himself by his drug addiction. He is in a position that he can fund it without criminal activity.”
Mr Curran said that Doherty had been being making progress since being fitted with an implant in his stomach. However, the singer interrupted his lawyer to confirm that he had yet to test negative for heroin.
Outside the court, two young fans insisted that their idol was more than a glorified drug addict.
Advertisement
Alice Taylor, a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Cambridge who will be among the crowds on Clapham Common, said: “People forget about his poetry and music, they just think about the drugs.
“He doesn’t ever condone them and he doesn’t take them on stage anymore.”
She confessed her surprise at the judge’s leniency, however. “I thought they would have made him an example,” she said.
As she spoke, the star emerged amid a barrage of camera flashes from the photographers. Rushed into a Range Rover, he lit a cigarette and kept his own counsel.
IN THE DOCK
Advertisement
July Appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court to say he he would be having an opiate-suppressing implant fitted
April sentenced to community order with two years’ supervision and 18 months’ drug rehabilitation after admitting seven charges of possessing drugs
February 2005 Appeared in court on charges of robbery and blackmail
2003 Sentenced to six months in prison for breaking into West London flat