Pete Doherty jailed for six months after admitting crack cocaine possession

[mc_squared]

Pete Doherty jailed for six months after admitting crack cocaine possession

 

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

 

Last updated at 3:18 PM on 20th May 2011

 

 

• Singer caught on camera smoking drugs with heiress days before her death
  

Pete Doherty was today jailed for six months after he was caught on film smoking a crack-pipe with heiress Robyn Whitehead just days before her death.

 

Despite repeated convictions for drug related offences Doherty, who was due to perform in Glasgow tonight will today begin only his third prison sentence.

 

The Babyshambles star and former boyfriend of model Kate Moss was arrested in January last year by police investigating the death of 27-year-old Miss Whitehead, the granddaughter of the late Teddy Goldsmith.

 

Just before jail: Pete Doherty, centre, arrives at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London where he was jailed for possessing class A drugs

 

The former boyfriendof model Kate Moss was arrested in January last year by police investigating the death of heiress Robyn Whitehead

 

The film-maker who died on January 24, 2010, as a result of 'heroin poisoning' had spent the last ten days of her life making a documentary about Doherty, 32.

But Snaresbrook Crown Court heard today her death was not caused by the drugs she was seen to share with Doherty and his 42-year-old pal Peter 'Wolfman' Wolfe, who was today sentenced to 12 months behind bars.

Sentencing Doherty Judge David Radford said: 'From what I have heard and what I have read there is no doubt that you are a talented and successful musician.

'However, you have an appalling record of committed offences of the kind for which you fall to be sentenced today.'

Doherty and Wolfe were charged when footage seized by police showed all three smoking crack-cocaine on a small, adapted brandy bottle at a flat in Hackney, east London.

The star was seen on the film using a knife to cut from a 'white block' before placing the substance on the pipe on January 23, the court heard.

The previous day Wolfe was recorded smoking from the same pipe before passing it to Miss Whitehead and helping her to light it.

 

The drugs had been bought by Wolfe on January 22 in Hoxton Market, east London.

 

He and Miss Whitehead had travelled to the Hackney flat that day from her family home under the pretext that she was 'looking after' him after his release from a rehabilitation course.

 

Prosecutor Alison Morgan said: 'On the Friday night Robyn Whitehead and Peter Wolfe were collected from the station by Miss Whitehead's ex-boyfriend.

'It was obvious to him that Mr Wolfe was withdrawing from drugs.

'During the course of that journey Peter Wolfe said that he needed to score.

 

'They stopped in Hoxton Market and Mr Wolfe got out and returned a short while later. The assumption being that he had scored.

'The evidence thereafter is recorded on the footage that Miss Whitehead was taking as part of her documentary.

'Miss Morgan passed up a series of still images taken from the video to Judge David Radford showing Wolfe and Miss Whitehead smoking crack cocaine.

'Mr Wolfe was smoking form the small bottle in the photo and that was crack cocaine,' she said.

'A couple of minutes later he was shown to hand that bottle to Miss Whitehead who took the bottle and then Mr Wolfe assisted her to light it.

'Mr Wolfe is then seen again smoking from the pipe.'

 

The court heard that the footage of Doherty smoking was recorded the following day.

 

Miss Morgan said: 'Mr Wolfe and Miss Whitehead, who had stayed at the address overnight, were joined by Mr Doherty.

 

'Mr Doherty can be seen to also use the small pipe to smoke crack-cocaine shortly after entering the address.

 

'He used a knife to cut from a white block, which the Crown says was clearly crack-cocaine.

 

Singer: Doherty, performing here at a festival in France, has a well-documented problem with drugs

 

'He used the knife and put a small block on the pipe and smoked it.'

Miss Morgan continued that the footage continued for approximately 30 minutes after that, during which Doherty was heard to refuse to give Miss Whitehead 'a pipe' when she asked for one.

Miss Whitehead's body was discovered the following day.

She said: 'It follows, after careful consideration, no person is to face charges in relation to her death and it cannot be an aggravating feature in respect of sentencing this defendant albeit a matter of paramount importance for her devastated family and friends.'

Peter Ratliff, defending said Doherty had been out of trouble for more than a year and claimed his client was afflicted by an addiction but had never sought to 'glamorise' the use of drugs.

'Nobody who listens to his lyrics, who reads the diaries he has published or sees the interviews with him could think his life glamorises drug use.

 

'If independent evidence were needed that this defendant believes being clean is a good thing it comes from the very footage which forms the basis of the charges.

He argued that jailing Doherty would impact upon others 'who rely on him' and prevent him contributing a 'not insubstantial' amount in tax.

Wolfe's representative Elaine Stapleton stated that the charge of supplying crack-cocaine fell at the 'lowest level' of the spectrum.

 

Doherty of of Durley, Wiltshire, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of cocaine while Wolfe pleaded guilty to two counts of cocaine possession and one count of supplying the drug.

 

He was first arrested for possessing drugs in October 2005 and since then has repeatedly admitted possession of class A substances.

 

In 2008, he served 29 days of a 14-week sentence in Wormwood Scrubs prison after breaching a suspended sentence for drugs charges the previous year.

 

In 2003 Doherty admitted burgling the home of former Libertines bandmate Carl Barat and was sentenced to six months in prison which was later cut to two on appeal.

 

Today's conviction was his 25th for drug related offences.

 

It came just a week after it was announced Doherty would not face any charges over the death of partygoer Mark Blanco.

 

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was 'insufficient evidence' to bring any charges over the death of Mr Blanco who was involved in a confrontation with Doherty, his minder Johnny Jeannevol and Paul Roundhill, at a party shortly before he fell from a balcony in Whitechapel, east London, in 2006.

[Prince Myshkin]

It's in the Libertines thread. Move thread.

[mc_squared]

It's a news story, not about his music.;)

Anyway, I reckon he should at least have his own thread, as he's famous/infamous in his own right.

On the subject of his incarceration itself, it was only ever going to be a matter of time before it happened.

It's amazing he managed to retain his freedom for so long.

[busybeeburns]

can they not just put him down rather than send him down? The Tories are trying to save money.

[mc_squared]

can they not just put him down rather than send him down? The Tories are trying to save money.

 

To be perfectly honest, with his "track" record, I'm amazed he's still alive and kicking, as it happens!;)

[Prince Myshkin]

Prison won't help him, but there's an outside chance we might get a few songs from it.

[mc_squared]

Well apparently it's easier to get hold of drugs inside than outside, so I don't suppose he'll be too bothered.:dozey:

[busybeeburns]

I'd say he'll be looking forward to it then! :smoking:

[Prince Myshkin]

Well apparently it's easier to get hold of drugs inside than outside, so I don't suppose he'll be too bothered.:dozey:

 

Exactly. Inspired some songs last time around though. He's probably too far gone now though for creativity on a par with former works.

[mc_squared]

His music career has always been vastly overshadowed by his addiction anyway.:dozey:

[Prince Myshkin]

His music career has always been vastly overshadowed by his addiction anyway.:dozey:

 

Not always, outside of the mainstream, but certainly the majority of his career.

[mc_squared]

At least Amy Winehouse had hit the big time before she ruined herself.:dozey:

[Prince Myshkin]

Doherty had hit the big time in his genre. It's just his genre isn't the big time.

And Winehouse was on drugs when she made it. Do you think she was singing about rehab coincidentally? Both of them started off whilst on drugs and then fell apart because they couldn't keep it together after they had done well for their genres.

[mc_squared]

Well if that's the case, at least Winehouse managed to keep it under wraps for a while.;)

[Prince Myshkin]

Fair point, but I don't think it harmed the image of The Libertines in him not keeping it under wraps, as they were very much about free spirit and debauchery. His art was rather honest and was intriguing because of who he was and the stories he told.

[mc_squared]

Rather ironic, though, that first he lost his Libertines, and now he's lost his liberty..................... :rolleyes:

[Josh42]

It seems that in England he's more famous as a drug addict, but around the world he's more internationally recognized as a brilliant songwriter.

[mc_squared]

Doherty disgrace: Singer freed from jail after just SIX weeks amid fury at taunting of drug girl's family

 

 

• He calls society heiress's father 'deranged' on his blog
  
  
• Babyshambles star also used blog to rant at mother of another partygoer who died in balcony plunge
  

 

By Rebecca Camber

 

Last updated at 9:53 AM on 8th July 2011

 

 

Shamed singer Pete Doherty has walked free from prison just six weeks into a six-month sentence for drugs charges following the death of a society heiress.

The Babyshambles star has been allowed out on home detention curfew – which will see him wear a tag and confined to his home from 7pm to 7am – after serving only a quarter of his jail term.

His early release has been branded an insult to the relatives of Robyn Whitehead, a member of the wealthy Goldsmith family. Doherty was convicted for possessing crack cocaine in a squalid weekend that ended with her fatal overdose.

Mocking: Pete Doherty wears a judge's wig outside Snaresbrook Crown Court in London in April before he was jailed

 

And there was further anger yesterday as it emerged the 32-year-old singer had taunted the family of Miss Whitehead, 27, calling her filmmaker father, Peter, a ‘deranged old silly’.

In a blog posted just hours before he was sentenced on May 20 – his third drug-related jail term – he claimed the society beauty had begged him to inject her with drugs, to sleep with her on acid and to indulge in ‘black magic sex rituals’.

 

More...

 

 

• 'Gaga is sick and obsessed with her weight,' explosive new book accuses singer of starving herself and trying every drug
  

 

Doherty uses his self-serving rant to say he refused to allow Miss Whitehead, who idolised him, to use crack or heroin, but admitting he once ‘banged her up’ – helped her take drugs – when he found her trying to inject with a blunt needle. He said he wanted to make sure ‘she did it safely’.

 

The former Libertines frontman also spoke out for the first time about his involvement in the death of Mark Blanco, 30, who fell off a balcony in 2006 after being ejected from a party in Whitechapel, East London, for belittling Doherty as a ‘hyped-up pop star’.

 

 

 

Balcony fall: Actor Mark Blanco, left, fell to his death at a party attended by Doherty while glamorous Robyn Whitehead, right, died following an overdose

 

 

Miss Whitehead, granddaughter of Green Party founder Teddy Goldsmith and related to socialite Jemima Khan and Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, died on January 24 last year after spending several days filming a documentary about the drug-addict rock star.

Doherty was convicted after police found a DVD filmed by Miss Whitehead showing him smoking crack cocaine with his friends.

But he refused to take any responsibility for her death, instead blaming a ‘propaganda campaign’ for suggesting that he led her astray.

He claimed: ‘She was a heavily involved recreational user and abuser of substances. I did not lead her astray at all. I loved her. I left her the day before she died p***** off that I wouldn’t give her any drugs.

‘She asked me for years to inject her, to score for her, to sleep with her on acid, to get into black magic sex rituals… never, never, never.’

He went on to abuse her father, saying: ‘Robyn’s father texted me that I am a “coward and a runt” and that I am to blame. She (Robyn) would be broken hearted if she knew that I was not even invited to the funeral ... she was my best friend you deranged old silly.’

In the same blog, the singer also taunted Mark Blanco’s mother, Sheila, about her son’s death.

SINGER HAS TWICE BEEN JAILED BEFORE

 

Doherty was first arrested for possessing drugs in October 2005 and since then has repeatedly admitted possession of class A substances.

In 2008, he served 29 days of a 14-week sentence in Wormwood Scrubs prison after being arrested on drugs charges the previous year.

In 2003 Doherty admitted burgling the home of former Libertines bandmate Carl Barat and was sentenced to six months in prison which was later cut to two on appeal.

While his former bandmates were on tour in Japan, Doherty allegedly kicked down the door to Barat’s basement flat in Harley Street and stole items including an antique guitar, laptop, video recorder, CD player, harmonica and books.

 

 

He wrote: ‘Or perhaps, Mrs Blanco, so vocal in her condemnation of me in relation to her son’s death ... perhaps she’d be interested to know exactly what occurred that night?

‘Mrs Blanco, your son was well liked and well loved. The night he died he was intensely agitated ... He was ejected from Paul’s flat because of his aggressive and loud attempts to belittle me and assert his view that I was a hyped-up pop star.

‘When he left the flat he was alone and when he fell or jumped he was alone.’

Earlier this year, after two Scotland Yard investigations, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough evidence for a murder prosecution over the death of the Cambridge graduate.

But last night Mrs Blanco said she was considering a private prosecution against Doherty.

She said: ‘If he knew Mark was alone, how did he know? I think it’s very insulting in a way.

‘It’s a joke. It’s the work of a coward deciding to say something when they are about to go to prison.’

And she blasted the decision to release him early, saying: ‘It feels like a celebrity privilege.’

Rock: The controversial singer, of Camden, North London, has twice been jailed before and has repeatedly admitted possession of class A substances

 

Anti-drugs campaigner Sheilmor Twomey said last night: ‘It makes it worse for the family of Miss Whitehead. It’s an insult.’

Doherty, of Camden, North London, yesterday announced he was celebrating his freedom with a gig – in the afternoon as a result of his curfew – on Saturday.

But it may not be long before he is back behind bars. He could face up to five years in jail for allegedly breaking into a music shop during a drunken night out in Germany.

Yesterday Miss Whitehead’s family declined to comment.

The Prison Service said home detention curfews were available for ‘low-risk’ offenders who had served a quarter of their sentence.