Marlborough's Doherty has bail altered to go to celebration meal (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Marlborough's Doherty has bail altered to go to celebration meal

5:24pm Thursday 16th July 2009

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Rock singer Pete Doherty, who is facing drink-driving charges, had his bail varied today so he can go for a late meal to celebrate his sister's graduation.

The 30-year-old ex-Libertines frontman is supposed to be in at 7pm each day under the terms of a curfew, but magistrates have allowed him to stay out until midnight tonight for the family gathering.

Doherty's sister is graduating tomorrow, but her sibling is unable to attend as he is performing in Latvia, Cheltenham Magistrates' Court heard.

Kate Moss's former lover, who lives in a country house in Marlborough, Wiltshire, was stopped last month in Gloucester after officers spotted a car being driven erratically.

The troubled vocalist later entered a not guilty plea to a charge of dangerous driving but admitted two drugs possession charges as well as having no licence or insurance, after the episode.

He entered no plea to the drink driving allegation and was next due back in court on August 11.

But he asked for his last-minute bail bid to be added to the court list today.

Doherty did not attend and his lawyer, Peter Ratcliffe, made the unopposed application, for one night only, in his absence When Doherty appeared at Stroud Magistrates' Court last month his manager Andrew Boyd put up a £50,000 surety which will be forfeited if his act jumps bail.

Doherty's 7pm to 7am curfew does not apply when he is gigging. The musician is also forbidden from travelling in the front seat of any vehicle and has been fitted with a medical implant "to attempt to prevent drug abuse".

He is forbidden from using illegal substances while on bail and must attempt Narcotics Anonymous at least once a week.

Doherty went on to play a well-received gig at Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, last month.

His arrest on June 11 came half an hour after the singer had played to an audience of 300 with an acoustic set at the city's Guildhall.

His latest solo album, Grace/Wastelands, was attributed to Peter Doherty, rather than Pete, which critics saw as a sign of growing maturity.

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