Doherty fined for taking drugs on plane

Singer Pete Doherty has been fined for taking drugs after a flight to Switzerland, police have confirmed.

The singer was met by Swiss officers on arrival at Geneva Airport on Thursday after an incident on a British Airways flight, a spokesman for Geneva Police said.

Doherty was made to pay a penalty fine for drug consumption before being freed, he added.

A British Airways spokeswoman said she could not confirm reports that police were called when the 30-year-old was found slumped in an on-board toilet with a hypodermic needle.

She said: "Swiss police met one of our flights and a man was detained."

Doherty, who has fought a long and public battle with drug addiction, served 29 days of a 14-week sentence in Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London last year for breaching his probation after being caught with crack cocaine, heroin, ketamine and cannabis.

Until Thursday's incident, Doherty had not been in trouble with the police since his release in May last year.

After he left prison he played a string of gigs with his band, Babyshambles, as well as solo dates including one at the Royal Albert Hall.

In March this year he released his debut solo album 'Grace/Wastelands' and was travelling to Switzerland to perform at the Neuchatel Open Air festival.