Pete Doherty's controversies

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, and his on-off relationship with model Kate Moss.

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 Carlish' intention to sell to the tabloid press photos showing Doherty smoking heroin. Doherty claimed to be innocent, but had to spend 4 days in Pentonville Prison, as he was initially unable to raise £150,000 bail set by the judge on duty. Following a £50,000 payment from record company EMI and a £100,000 payment from his manager, he was released from custody. 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. The charges of robbery and blackmail were later dropped due to "insufficient evidence."

• 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. During the concert a brief fistfight between Doherty and bandmate Patrick Walden took place on stage.

• 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 by the audience; the sickly pale and bloated Doherty repeatedly forgot the song's lyrics, sang tunelessly and off-key, and stumbled around the stage seemingly in a stupor.

• 13 August - Doherty was detained at the airport customs at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, when customs officers found a small amount of heroin among his possessions. 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 festival organisers paid the fine of 8000 NOK (693.118 GBP). The band appeared on stage later than scheduled and Doherty soon fell ill and vomited after being on stage for only 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.

• 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. It later transpired that police had mistaken his methadone for illegal drugs. Babyshambles were forced to cancel a performance at the University of East Anglia as a result of Doherty's arrest. Doherty protested his innocence.

• 24 November - Doherty was admitted into the exclusive US rehabilitation clinic, The Meadows, but checked out after just six days. In the early hours of November 30, 2005, police stopped his car on Cleveland Road, Ealing, W13, due to the erratic manner of his driving. He was arrested because of an alleged possession of class A drugs, and taken to Ealing Broadway police station. He was released on bail under the provision to return in January 2006 for further inquiries.

• 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 turned up substances believed to be heroin and crack cocaine.

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.

• 14 January - Babyshambles were scheduled to perform a gig in Graz Austria but Pete Doherty failed to perform after he got arrested again and charged with driving under the influence and possession of class A drugs, heroin and cocaine. 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. These arrests forced the postponement of several gigs, causing a riot among some of the fans present at the Newcastle show scheduled for that evening. Two people were arrested during the riot. The judge refused bail and Doherty was remanded in custody until 8 February, for sentencing. The press speculated that he gave the judge the finger after being refused bail.

• 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.

• 27 February - Doherty was arrested during an 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 made.

• 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 related to incidents in east London in December and January. 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.

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

• 20 April - Doherty was sentenced, receiving an 18-month drug-rehabilitation order, a two-year supervision order, and was banned from driving for six months. Just hours after leaving court, he was again arrested by plainclothes police officers for alleged drug possession, and held overnight before being bailed out.

• 28 April - The Sun printed photographs of Doherty that purported to show him injecting an unconscious woman with heroin. On 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; this was also corroborated by six witnesses. It was reported that Doherty had been drawing a small amount of blood for use in an artwork. Doherty had in the past experimented with blood as a pigment, and a selection of his paintings were displayed in a London gallery by his literary manager, Paul Roundhill.

• 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.

• 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. However, Doherty denied having used drugs on the plane, and 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.

• 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.

• 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, Doherty pulls his band Babyshambles out of the Ibiza Rock concert on 26 July on the island of Ibiza, Spain, to once again enter a drug rehabilitation facility.

• 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 an arrest 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 4. Doherty was released on conditional bail and ordered to stay at a rehabilitation clinic until sentencing.

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

• 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.

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

• 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. 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.

• 3 December - At a party one evening, Doherty was harassed by drunken actor Mark Blanco, who was then asked to leave. Blanco later fell from a balcony, sustaining fatal injuries. Despite initial suspicion of the cause of death, CCTV footage revealed that Blanco had jumped from the balcony. Police have cleared Doherty of any involvement.

• 4 December - Fined £770 and banned from driving for 4 months for five counts of possessing drugs.

2007

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

• 5 May - Doherty was arrested on suspicion of possession of crack cocaine and cannabis. He was released on bail on the following day and was later charged with four counts of drug possession and with driving a car without insurance or tax.

• 8 August - Doherty allegedly did the drug cocktail speedball with singer Amy Winehouse the night she went into a coma. He later fled the scene fearing he would be blamed for the state Winehouse was in.

• 20 August - Doherty was arrested in the early hours of the morning under the suspicion of possession of drugs.

• 22 August - The Daily Star claims that Doherty's cat was separated from Doherty after it was found with cocaine in its system. Doherty later denied this.

• 23 August - Doherty assaults a 22-year-old female photographer.

• 24 October - Doherty gets the remaining 6 month of the compulsory supervision order he received on April 20, 2006 revoked after experts convinced the judge that Doherty will follow the rehabilitation plan in place.

• 26 October - Doherty appeared in court for sentencing in relation to the arrest made on May 5. He was sentenced to four months in jail suspended for two years and received a 18-month supervision order and a 12-month drug rehabilitation order for the drug possession charge and had to pay a fine of £475 for driving without insurance or an MOT.

• 6 November - After having claimed that he was clean of drugs, new footage emerged. The video shows Doherty injecting heroin at his Wiltshire home on November 2.