Pete Doherty fined for carrying heroin in court
Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was fined Wednesday for walking into a court last month with heroin in his pocket.
The British singer, who has a history of drug arrests and once dated supermodel Kate Moss, was at Gloucester Magistrates’ Court in western England to learn his punishment for the December 21 incident, the Press Association reported.
Doherty, 30, appeared in court before Christmas to be fined for careless driving, but as he was being escorted from the premises security guards saw heroin fall from his pocket.
He was immediately arrested and later charged with possession of the illegal drug.
“Either this was sheer stupidity or a ploy to get more publicity,” judge Joti Boparai said Wednesday.
Doherty was fined 750 pounds ($1,200) and 85 pounds in costs. Boparai ruled that, because Doherty was paying for drug treatment privately, it would not be worth taking money from the “public purse” to put him on a rehabilitation order.
Doherty’s lawyer Bruce Clark said the singer felt “very stupid” after being caught with heroin worth nearly 200 pounds in his pocket, but that he had not known it was there.
