Pete Doherty's solicitor makes a Freudian slip

If you were representing a man famed across three Oceans for taking smack and coke and crack, wouldn't you think twice before telling magistrates that your client's progress on drugs was a "mixed bag"?

Bruce Clark told the court that Pete Doherty is "making progress", and suggested the problem has been not so much drug addiction, as being from London:

Mr Clark told the court: "He's giving up a lifestyle he's been living in the East End which is not the best place for him to be.

"There are alternatives for him though. He is now living at an address out of London," he added.

That'll make all the difference, then. Although he did go to live in a monastry in Tibet and still managed to find himself haggling over prices in back street within a couple of days, so we're not sure "wherever Kate Moss lives" is going to be quite the safe place you'd hope.

District judge Jane McIvor said: "Weekly appointments under the order had not been as successful as expected."

Doherty who appeared wearing a grey shirt and dark trousers told the court he was still seeking treatment.

"I've been going to NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings and seeing a counsellor separate from the Priory," he said.

When asked by the judge if he was still optimistic, he replied: "Yes".

We feel a bit sorry for Judge McIvor, who has been working desperately to try and get Pete sorted and keep him out of jail, and wish we had the trust and patience she did. Even if she is the only person in the country who expected his weekly appointments to be more successful than they've turned out. (The rest of us, I suspect, are surprised they've gone as well as they have.)

Pete gets another three months to try and tidy up his act.

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