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Pete Doherty avoids jail for drug charges

Pete Doherty, the troubled former boyfriend of Kate Moss, has been sentenced to 12 months of community service for possessing drugs.Doherty, the 26-year-old front man of the group Babyshambles, pleaded guilty to the charges on Jan. 27.He spoke only to confirm his name and address, and appeared disoriented during the hearing Wednesday at Ealing Magistrates’ Court in west London, glancing frequent
/ Source: The Associated Press

Pete Doherty, the troubled former boyfriend of Kate Moss, has been sentenced to 12 months of community service for possessing drugs.

Doherty, the 26-year-old front man of the group Babyshambles, pleaded guilty to the charges on Jan. 27.

He spoke only to confirm his name and address, and appeared disoriented during the hearing Wednesday at Ealing Magistrates’ Court in west London, glancing frequently toward supporters in the public gallery. They burst into applause when it became clear Doherty would not be going to jail.

Judge Ann McLaughlin warned Doherty that if he broke the drug rehabilitation requirement of his community service order he would be brought back before the court and might go to jail.

The maximum sentence for possession of Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine is seven years in prison.

She ordered Doherty to submit to a drug test each month and told him to return to Thames Magistrates’ Court on March 8 for a review of the order.

Doherty told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Radio One that he planned to have an implant to help him stay off heroin.

“As far as drugs are concerned, it’s simple — I’d rather be on the out with no smack than inside prison with no smack,” he said, adding that he was “breathing a sigh of relief” over the sentence.

The singer became upset when asked if he thought being famous had helped him avoid jail.

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last 12 days? Picking tulips?” he said. “I’ve been sat in a cell sweating it out, fully aware of the circumstances.”

Prosecutor Bryony Derbyshire had told the court Doherty was stopped by police in London on Nov. 30, and heroin and cocaine were found in his car.

He was stopped again four days later, when police found heroin, morphine, crack cocaine and marijuana in his car.

Doherty was again stopped by police in London on Jan. 26, when he was found to be carrying heroin. He pleaded guilty at three earlier hearings to seven counts of drug possession in relation to these incidents.

Doherty’s lawyer, Sean Curran, had argued against a jail sentence.

“He is only a harm to himself, and the real shame here would be if he did not receive the treatment he needs,” Curran said.

Moss, 31, lost modeling contracts with H&M, Burberry and Chanel last year after the Daily Mirror tabloid published pictures of her allegedly using cocaine in a west London music studio where Doherty, then her boyfriend, was recording with Babyshambles.

She later went into a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona and has since resumed her modeling career.