Pete Doherty's controversies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pete Doherty is an English singer and musician who has become well known to the public because of his addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, frequent arrests, court appearances which are heavily reported by tabloid press, along with his on-off relationship with model Kate Moss.

1 2005
2 2006
3 2007
4 References

[edit] 2005

3 February - Doherty and another man were arrested for allegedly assaulting documentary film maker Max Carlish in an Islington hotel, in an incident apparently related to his decision to sell photos of Doherty smoking heroin to the tabloid press.^[1] Despite protesting his innocence, Doherty spent 4 days in Pentonville Prison due to his initial inability to raise the £150,000 bail the judge set. Following a £50,000 payment from record company EMI and a £100,000 payment from his manager, his release from custody was secured.^[2] Strict conditions were imposed on his release, including a night-time curfew for all reasons except drug rehabilitation, and an escort from a private security firm at all times.^[3] The charges of robbery and blackmail were later dropped due to "insufficient evidence."^[4]

22 February - The judge granted an exception to his bail conditions so that Doherty could perform a scheduled concert at the Brixton Academy with his band. It was here that a brief fistfight between Doherty and bandmate Patrick Walden took place on stage.^[5]

2 July - At the Live 8 charity concert, Doherty performed 'Children of the Revolution' with Elton John who introduced him as one of the country's 'new talents'. The performance was poorly-received, with Doherty forgetting words, and stumbling around the stage seemingly in a stupor.

13 August - Doherty was stopped in the airport customs at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, where customs officers found him to be in possession of a small amount of heroin. His band was originally booked to play at the Oslo-festival Øyafestivalen at 5:05 PM, but he remained in custody for three hours. He was released when the organisers of the festival paid the fine of 8000 NOK (693.118 GBP). When the band appeared onstage later than scheduled, Doherty was sick, and vomited after 20 minutes. He threw out a bottle of Vodka to the audience, and showed them his empty cigarette package, followed by the crowd throwing cigarettes to him. Because of the electricity being shut down at 11 pm, they couldn't play for more than 30 minutes.

28 August - At Leeds Festival Doherty attempted to assault Johnny Borrell, lead singer of fellow band Razorlight, but was subdued.^[6]

2 October - Following a sold-out gig at Shrewsbury Music Hall, police raided the band's tour bus and Doherty was arrested for possession of Class A drugs and held overnight, although it later appeared that police had actually mistaken his methadone for illegal drugs. Babyshambles were forced to cancel a performance at the University of East Anglia as a result.^[7] Doherty protested his innocence.^[8]

24 November - Doherty was admitted into the exclusive US rehabilitation clinic, The Meadows, but checked out after just six days and was, in the early hours of November 30, 2005, arrested on the alleged possession of class A drugs after police stopped his car on Cleveland Road, Ealing, W13, due to the erratic manner of his driving. He was taken to Ealing Broadway police station and later bailed to return in January 2006 pending further inquiries. ^[9]

18 December - Doherty was again arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in East London. Doherty and three passengers fled, and a search of Doherty's car rendered substances believed to be heroin and crack cocaine. ^[9]

[edit] 2006

11 January - Doherty pleaded guilty to the possession of heroin and cocaine at Ealing Magistrates' Court after being arrested in west London on 30 November, 2005. He was released on unconditional bail to reappear for sentencing on 8 February. Doherty's barrister was forced to apologise to the court after the singer arrived at the hearing more than an hour late, blaming traffic and press obstruction.^[10]

14 January - Babyshambles were scheduled to perform a gig in Graz Austria but Pete Doherty failed to attend after he got arrested again and charged with driving under the influence and possession of Class A drugs, heroin and cocaine.^[11] The Band performed without Doherty. On 20 January, Doherty pled guilty to possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and cannabis.

26 January - Doherty was arrested twice. First at 5:40am for suspicion of possession of class A drugs after driving erratically in London. Following his release from custody he was searched and re-arrested in London at 3:00pm for being under the influence of class A drugs.^[12] These arrests forced the postponement of several gigs, leading to a riot among some of the fans present at the Newcastle show scheduled for that evening, when two people were arrested. The judge refused bail and Doherty was remanded in custody until 8 February, for sentencing.^[13] The press speculated that he gave the judge the finger after being refused bail.^[14]

8 February - Having pleaded guilty to the drug charges, Doherty was given a 12-month community order, requiring him to undergo drug treatment and regular testing in conjunction with monthly reviews. He voiced a desire to end his addiction and was praised by the judge for his "positive progress" in subsequent reviews.^[15]

27 February - Doherty was arrested during the evening in Birmingham, along with two men from Dundee (one of whom was a member of Babyshambles support band The View), on suspicion of stealing a car and possessing Class A drugs. The allegation of car theft was the result of an erroneous report, and no charges were brought.^[16]

7 March - Scotland Yard announced that Doherty has been charged with seven further counts of drug possession: two charges of possessing crack cocaine, two of possessing heroin and a further three charges relating to the possession of cannabis. These charges relate to incidents in east London in December and January.^[17] He appeared in court on 9 March 2006 to face these charges, but his case was adjourned for a further two weeks because the prosecution said they were not ready to begin the hearing.^[18]

23 March - Doherty pleaded guilty to the seven drug charges, and sentencing was scheduled for 20 April. Immediately after, he kicked a microphone out of a reporter's hand during a chaotic scene outside the court.^[19]

20 April - Doherty was sentenced, receiving an 18 month drug rehabilitation order, and banned from driving for six months. Just hours after leaving court he was rearrested for alleged drug possession by plainclothes police officers, and held overnight before being bailed.^[20]

28 April - The Sun, a tabloid newspaper, printed photographs of Doherty that purported to show him injecting an unconscious woman with heroin. Doherty said that the pictures had been staged as a type of art photography called a tableau vivant, and later stolen and sold.

29 April - Doherty was arrested at 8am in East London and questioned on suspicion of administering a noxious substance. He was later released after the woman in the pictures confirmed that she was fully conscious and the pictures did not depict any actual drug use; six witnesses corroborated this.^[21] It was reported that he had been drawing a small amount of blood for use in an artwork; Doherty has experimented with blood as a pigment in the past, and a selection of his paintings were displayed in a London gallery by his literary manager, Paul Roundhill.^[22]

11 May - The singer squirted a syringe containing a red liquid at an MTV News camera during an interview following a gig in Berlin. He later said that it was fake blood, purchased for a prank. ^[23]

1 June - Doherty was briefly detained at a Barcelona airport enroute to a festival after airline staff claimed to have found a syringe in the lavatory. However, Spanish police found nothing suspicious and he was quickly released without charge. Following the incident, he was banned from all easyJet flights.^[24] However, Doherty denied having used drugs on the plane, and ^[25] the Sun later reported that he had been using prescribed methadone.

8 June - Doherty checks into rehab in Portugal to treat his ongoing addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, where he was scheduled to undergo rapid opiate detoxification under sedation and to receive a Naltrexone anti-heroin implant. The device was not implanted, as it was reportedly damaged after being opened by customs officers searching for drugs.^[26]

17 June - Doherty is fined 14,000 kronor (£1,030; US$1,901) in Sweden after police found traces of cocaine in his blood following a concert at the Hultsfred music festival. Another band member was also fined and released.^[27]

21 July - Having told Judge Jane McIvor earlier in the month he planned to be outfitted with an anti-opiate implant after failing another drug test,^[28] Doherty pulls his band Babyshambles out of the Ibiza Rocks concert on the island of Ibiza, Spain, to once again enter a drug rehabilitation facility. They were scheduled to play 26 July.^[29]

17 August - Doherty was charged with seven counts of possessing drugs including cocaine and heroin, relating to a number of past arrests on April 20 and 29, which pre-dated his second community order and addiction treatment, as well as on 7 August 2006. He was held in custody pending a court appearance on the next day. On August 18 he appeared in court and pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing drugs. Sentencing was adjourned until September 4, and later postponed to December. The outcome will most likely not amount to time in jail. Doherty was released on conditional bail and ordered to stay at a rehabilitation clinic until sentencing.^[30]

1 September - Evicted from London flat for unpaid rent of £10,000 and payment for damage of blood and graffiti on walls.^[31]

24 October - Pete Doherty was left covered in blood from a head wound after fighting with a papparazi photographer on the last leg of a concert tour in Italy.^[32]

8 November - Fined £750 after admitting the assault of a BBC Newsbeat reporter on 23 March by kicking a microphone from her hand.^[33]

19 November - Arrested on suspicion of possessing crack cocaine after being spotted driving his Jaguar erratically near his east London home. Doherty and his two passengers were released from Bethnal Green police station pending analysis of "substances recovered" by the police.^[34] In early February 2007 Doherty was charged with failing to produce driving documents, driving with no insurance, driving with no MOT, and failing to comply with driving licence conditions.^[35]

3 December - Present at a party one evening, Doherty was harassed by drunken actor Mark Blanco, who was asked to leave and later fell fatally from a balcony. Despite initial suspicion, CCTV footage revealed the man had jumped.^[36] Police have cleared him of any involvement.^[37]

4 December - Fined £770 and banned from driving for 4 months for five counts of possessing drugs.^[38]

[edit] 2007

13 January - Doherty and two men were arrested under the suspicion of stealing a car.^[39] He was later released without charge and the police will take no further action against him.^[40]