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The singer George Michael has been let off with a caution after being arrested in a public toilet for possession of drugs believed to include crack cocaine.

The star was found with the deadly drug after police were alerted by an attendant in the public toilets near Hampstead Heath, notorious as a hang-out for drug dealers and gay men, on Friday afternoon.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: I can confirm that a 45-year-old man was arrested in Hampstead on September 19 and was cautioned for the possession of Class A and Class C drugs.

Michael, one of Britain's most successful pop stars with worldwide album sales of 100 million, has often spoken publicly about his use of marijuana. Footage of him using the drug appeared on the South Bank Show in 2006, which he later said he regretted.

The singer last year pleaded guilty to being unfit to drive after being found in North London slumped over the wheel of his car. He tested positive for anti-depressants, cannabis and illegal drug GHB, known as liquid ecstasy.

Yet the news that Michael has apparently progressed to using crack cocaine, the most addictive form of the drug, will come as a shock to fans who were recently told the pop star would be retiring for a quieter life.

Despite his history of drug offences, Michael was only cautioned by police and released after questioning at a North London police station.

The Home Office website stipulates that possession of a Class A drug can result in a prison sentence of up to seven years, an unlimited fine or both. But a Home Office spokesman said that circumstances and context must be taken into consideration in such cases and that drug laws needed to be flexible to not only punish drug use, but also to help those suffering from addiction.

The details and difficulties of Michaels private life have often made the headlines since he was arrested in Los Angeles in 1998 for exposing himself to an undercover police officer, also in a public toilet, an incident which forced him to "come out" as gay. On that occasion he was fined £450 and made to do 80 hours community service.

He has since spoken openly about his homosexuality, and about his use of Class C drugs including marijuana. He said: Im a happy man and I can afford my marijuana so thats not a problem.

The latest incident comes just just three weeks after Michael ended what he called his "farewell" world tour. He was he wanted to leave the bells and whistles of grand tours behind and added: Im an old man, I really need to sit down.

Evidently that did not deter him from using drugs in a public lavatory on Hampstead Heath, any more than the 'No Loitering' sign on the wall.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4797661.ece