Kate Moss to be cleared of cocaine abuse claims

[lovely bones]

Insufficient evidence: Police were unable to find any forensic proof to support their claims


Kate Moss will be officially cleared of cocaine allegations on Thursday despite police being convinced she took the drug.

Scotland Yard spent seven months investigating the 32-year-old model after she was pictured apparently snorting the banned substance in a recording studio.

The Daily Mail can reveal that after taking a number of witness statements, detectives obtained strong "circumstantial" evidence that she took "line after line" of cocaine.

But despite extensive inquiries, they were unable to find any forensic proof to support their claims.

The Crown Prosecution Service lawyers finally concluded there is insufficient evidence to charge Miss Moss with possession of a Class A drug. An announcement will be made after she is formally informed of the decision at lunchtime.

The decision to take "no further action" against Miss Moss came after police expressed concerns that a "disproportionate" amount of resources had been ploughed into the case.

It is thought the probe - ordered by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair as part of a clampdown on middle-class cocaine users - cost up to £250,000.

Officers feared that had the case reached court, they could have been accused of pursuing Miss Moss just because she is a celebrity - a charge levelled at the Met after disgraced TV presenter John Leslie was charged and later cleared over sex assault claims.

Miss Moss's life unravelled last September after she was pictured apparently snorting cocaine at a recording studio.

That was followed by allegations that she has a £200-a-day cocaine habit, and had had drug-fuelled lesbian threesomes with actresses Sadie Frost and Davinia Taylor.

She was also reported to have taken cocaine during a charity dinner for Nelson Mandela's Children's Fund, and to have worked her way through a "fist-sized" mound of cocaine with fellow model Naomi Campbell.

Within days of the photographs appearing she issued a statement admitting "full responsibility" for her actions and apologising for her behaviour.

Setback for Sir Ian Blair
But her failure to make any admissions when interviewed has made it extremely difficult for police to bring a prosecution.

When Miss Moss was interviewed by police on January 31 she simply refused to say anything beyond confirming her name and address and handing over a short written statement.

Without an admission of guilt, she cannot even be cautioned.

She was not arrested and instead was quizzed under caution - officers warning her that anything she said could be used as evidence against her if she were prosecuted.

The questions came after an extraordinary 142-day exile from Britain which began in September when the photographs were published in the Mirror, and Croydon-born Miss Moss left for a U.S. drug rehabilitation clinic.

Detectives raided the Metropolis studio in Chiswick, West London, where the footage was shot but they found no traces of any banned drug.

The model was at the studio during a recording session by her then boyfriend, drug addict Pete Doherty.

The CPS had been expected to reach a decision on the Miss Moss case two months ago.

But prosecution lawyers requested that Scotland Yard detectives carry out some additional work before they make a formal announcement.

It is believed this has included taking a statement from Naomi Campbell's former PA, Rebecca White, who claims she saw Miss Moss "taking cocaine several times".

White, 31, says she used to buy £500 packets of cocaine from Miss Moss's drug dealer and then watch her snort line after line.

In a highly unusual move, CPS lawyers want to use such testimonies to help mount a prosecution against Miss Moss. They wanted an expert to testify in court that the substance snorted by the model in a video must have been cocaine.

However detectives from the Met's so-called Celebrity Squad were fiercely opposed to such a trial, believing it would be unfair to bring a drugs prosecution based on such evidence.

A source linked to the inquiry said: "It would be highly unusual for someone to be tried for possession of drugs, when it cannot proved conclusively that they taken a banned substance.

"The police were concerned they could be accused of putting a disproportionate amount of resources into this case, just because she is a celebrity."
The decision not to prosecute Miss Moss is another setback to Sir Ian Blair who, on his first day as Met Commissioner 16 months ago, vowed to crack down on middle-class cocaine users.

From: UK Daily Mail

[cocainekate]

A clampdown on middle class drug users is a waste of money. They should only clamp down on the ones that commit crimes.

[equallydivided]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060615/...YwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

No charges for Kate Moss over cocaine allegation By Tim CastleThu Jun 15, 6:43 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - British supermodel Kate Moss will not face charges over allegations she took illegal drugs at a London recording studio last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Thursday.

The 32-year-old was questioned by police but not arrested after the Daily Mirror tabloid published photographs from film taken last September of her apparently snorting large quantities of cocaine.
The CPS said it had concluded there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of convicting the model.

"The film footage provides an absolutely clear indication that Ms Moss was using controlled drugs and providing them to others," said Rene Barclay, the CPS's London director of serious casework.
"However, in the absence of any forensic evidence, or direct eye witness evidence about the substance in question, its precise nature could not be established."
Moss and the direct eyewitnesses had declined to provide any explanation when interviewed, Barclay added.

Moss flew abroad after the photos appeared and spent time in the United States, where she attended a drug rehabilitation clinic, and in France, before returning to Britain.

The scandal prompted British fashion house Burberry and Swedish-based Hennes and Mauritz to cut ties with Moss, one of the most famous faces in fashion. France's Chanel also said it would not renew a contract with her when it expired.

Her career recovered swiftly, with a new contract for camera maker Nikon and front page appearances for French fashion bible Vogue and U.S. celebrity magazine Vanity Fair.

She has never confessed to taking illegal drugs, although she issued a statement last year apologizing to friends and family for behavior which "reflected badly" on them.

Moss is a favorite subject for British newspapers, which have closely followed her on-off relationship with troubled British rocker Pete Doherty. Doherty pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing heroin and cocaine.

[LynnieD]

I cannot believe this, but I am actually surprised....that bitch.

[equallydivided]

First time I've started a thread...did I do it right?

[Grimmlok]

You have to put in the link to the website you got it from

Other than that, SHE WAS HOOVERING COKE! Wtf does it take?

[Sassiness]

It's this little thing called the STANDARD OF PROOF

The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that she was snorting a specific drug. They can't prove which drug she was taking, and the UK Misuse of Drugs Act is very specific about the classes of drugs: E and coke are class A, speed is class B. That white powder could have been any mix of those three, and because the DPP can't prove which class of drugs it was, they can't lay the specific charges necessary. To go forward with a prosecution would be a waste of time and tax payer's money because they won't have the proof, short of Kate herself confessing (which she ain't likely to do), required to convince a jury BRD that she was taking a specific drug.

Sometimes people can slip through the cracks in the law, but I'd rather have that than have people arbitrarily put in jail.