Doherty in jail after pounds 150,000 bail not raised

THE ROCK singer Pete Doherty will spend the weekend in prison after efforts to raise a pounds 150,000 bond to keep him out of jail fell through last night.

Mr Doherty, 25, had earlier appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates' court in north London looking bedraggled and pale. He was charged with robbery and blackmail following an alleged incident at the Rookery Hotel, Islington, on Wednesday night. Alan Wass, 23, another musician and a close friend of Mr Doherty, also appeared, accused of the same offences. District Judge Dorothy Quick ordered Mr Doherty to attend a drug therapy programme at Bapam, the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine, between 7 and 19 February. While there he will be administered an implant that works against opiate addiction for three months.

His record label, Rough Trade, had agreed to provide pounds 100,000 as a bail bond and EMI, which owns his recording rights, another pounds 50,000, to meet court requirements. But after the men were released from custody it was announced that the money, in fact, could not be raised and that Mr Doherty would have to return and spend the weekend in prison.

Mr Doherty had already been told he could not leave his home without being accompanied by staff from a security firm. He had additionally been ordered to surrender his passport and not to approach any prosecution witnesses or go to the Rookery Hotel. Mr Wass had been ordered to surrender his passport, abide by a curfew and not approach witnesses or go to the hotel. He had also been told to report daily to his local police station.

Mr Doherty was forced to leave the Libertines band after a much-publicised descent into heroin addiction. He is now a member of a rock act called Babyshambles.

He was arrested after police were called to the Rookery in response to claims that the film maker Max Carlish - who is making a film about Babyshambles - had been assaulted. Mr Carlish was later taken to University College Hospital, near Euston, before being discharged. He was pictured in yesterday's national press with facial injuries.

Yesterday, Mr Doherty looked tense as he sat in a courtroom packed with supporters and the press. Sitting next to Mr Wass, he was dressed in a black raincoat and kept his arms tightly folded. He sat with his head in his hands for part of the proceedings and mimed a cross sign as Judge Quick spoke.

Thinking his bail would be posted, Mr Doherty left the court in a Mercedes with a blanket over his head. He was followed by a fleet of paparazzi, while Mr Wass, who used to play guitar for the Left Hand, a support band for the Libertines, shouted "victory" as he ran to a Volkswagen with his father, with whom he lives. Only later did it emerge that Mr Doherty would have to return to prison.

Mr Doherty's manager, James Mullord, said Mr Doherty had been trying to cure his addiction and that, with the Bapam order, "the decision has been taken out of his hands. He will be glad of that." His solicitor, Sean Curran, said: "They ferociously deny all allegations against them. They look forward to a satisfactory conclusion at Crown Court where not- guilty verdicts will be returned."

Mr Doherty, who has been dating the model Kate Moss, told The Mirror earlier this week that he was engaged to her. He said he would beat his addiction for her sake.

Mr Doherty and Mr Wass were told to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 21 February.