Doherty charged with cocaine possession

Pete Doherty was charged with holding the class A substance (PA)

Rock star Pete Doherty was accused of possessing cocaine today after police investigated the suspected overdose death of heiress Robin Whitehead.

The 31-year-old Babyshambles star was charged with holding the class A substance when he answered bail at a central London police station.

He was one of four people arrested after the 27-year-old film-maker died from a suspected overdose on Sunday January 24.

It has been claimed the star attended a party the previous night at a flat in Hackney, east London.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the star will appear at Thames Magistrates' Court alongside two other men on October 18.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the offence is alleged to have taken place between January 21 and 25.

Two of Doherty's close friends were also charged with drugs offences.

Peter Wolfe, 42, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, who was staying in the flat where Miss Whitehead died, was charged with supplying cocaine.

He was also charged with two counts of possessing cocaine.

Musician Alan Wass, 29, of Latimer Road, west London, was charged with cocaine possession.

A 53-year-old woman questioned on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice has been released and will face no further action.

Miss Whitehead, known as Robyn, had spent the last 10 days of her life filming a documentary about the singer who has battled with drugs.

She was the granddaughter of the late Teddy Goldsmith, founder of The Ecologist magazine.

The documentary film, The Road To Albion, focussed on Doherty's former band, The Libertines, as she spent a lot of time with the singer.

Her website showed pictures of Doherty with his body encased in plaster, lying on a board in a crucifixion pose.

Miss Whitehead's mother, Dido Whitehead, is a cousin of Jemima Khan and Zac Goldsmith, and her father is 1960s filmmaker Peter Whitehead.

Doherty, of Durley, Marlborough, Wiltshire, said he was "shocked and saddened" following her death.

He was questioned on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs by detectives from Hackney CID on March 19.

A spokeswoman for Poplar coroner's court said no date has been set for an inquest into Miss Whitehead's death.