Kate Moss escapes cocaine charges

The Telegraph

The supermodel Kate Moss will not be charged over allegations that she took cocaine because there is not enough evidence to proceed, prosecutors have announced.

The allegations surfaced after video footage apparently showing the model snorting drugs was released to the press.

In the resulting furore, Moss lost several of her high-profile modelling contracts with brands such H&M and Chanel.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: "Following a detailed and thorough review of all the available evidence, the CPS has decided there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction against the model Kate Moss over allegations involving drugs."

The spokesman said that the Met had conducted all reasonable inquiries into alleged use and supply of drugs by Moss on the night of September 5 last year at a recording studio in Chiswick High Road, west London.

The decision not to press charges was made despite a pledge by Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to tackle middle-class cocaine users.

He said the decision on whether to charge Moss would take into account her effect on "impressionable young people".

Rene Barclay, CPS London's director of serious casework, said it was clear that Moss was using controlled drugs and providing them to others. But the case highlighted a loophole in the law on dealing with drug-takers.

Video footage of Moss's activities could not prove whether the substance was cocaine, ecstasy or amphetamine, Mr Barclay said.

These drugs are in different categories - Classes A and B - and therefore the prosecution could not proceed because the CPS must prove beyond reasonable doubt which category of substance was being abused.

"The film footage provides an absolutely clear indication that Ms Moss was using controlled drugs and providing them to others," he said.