behind bars: George Michael jailed

Tom Palmer

POP star George Michael is behind bars today after being sentenced to eight weeks in prison for crashing his car while high on cannabis.

The troubled 47-year-old, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, was found slumped at the wheel of his Range Rover after it ploughed into photography shop Snappy Snaps in north London at shortly before 4am on July 4.

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Michael, who has a previous conviction for the same offence, was told by District Judge John Perkins there was no option but jail.

The former Wham! star admitted driving while unfit through drugs and possessing two cannabis cigarettes when he appeared at London’s Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court last month.

Yesterday he sighed as District Judge John Perkins told him he would serve four weeks in jail and spend the remainder on licence. He was also banned from driving for five years and ordered to pay a 1,250 fine, 100 costs and a 15 victim surcharge.

The singer’s long-term partner, Kenny Goss, put his head in his hands on hearing the sentence, and a fan in the public gallery sobbed as he was taken down .

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Judge Perkins said: “You drove your motor vehicle about a mile while suffering from a severe impairment as a result of mixing not only a prescription treatment with which you were unfamiliar but also with cannabis.”

He said he took into account that Michael had checked into a clinic after the crash to seek help for anxiety, depression and insomnia, which had led him to depend on prescription drugs, and had noted he was dealing with bereavement issues.

Mukul Chawla QC, mitigating, said Michael had repaid the cost of the damage and had asked that his “profound shame and horror of having repeated the conduct of 2006” was made clear.

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