| MacGowan 'thrown out of Priory for bad behaviour'. Is this a record? The Independent By Terri Judd 26 February 2000 The former lead singer of the Pogues, Shane MacGowan, has left a rehabilitation clinic after a "row of sorts" with staff. MacGowan, 42, was thrown out of the ?400-a-day Priory clinic, for bad behaviour, according to the music magazine NME. A source said: "There were a few sharp words and he was asked to leave. "Shane is not an easy person in any circumstances." MacGowan is believed to have checked himself into the clinic for a detoxification programme several weeks agoafter a friend, the Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, tipped off the police about his alleged drug use. The Priory in Roehampton, south-west London, a popular clinic for "tired and emotional" celebrities, was coy when contacted last night. "We never say anything about patients whether they are famous or not," said a spokesman. Staff at the singer's favourite Islington watering hole, Filthy McNasty's, were also evasive when asked whether he had popped in for a pint of his usual lately. "The question is, 'Has he every really been here, even when he is here?'," said one . The star has admitted to being addicted to alcohol but denies being addicted to drugs. MacGowan was arrested last November when Ms O'Connor, now a self-styled priest known as Mother Bernadette, dialled 999 after allegedly finding him slumped on the floor of his London flat. Ms O'Connor has insisted that it was an act of "tough love" rather than betrayal as she was convinced that MacGowan was killing himself with a cocktail of drink and drugs, including heroin. "I love Shane and it makes me angry to see him destroy himself selfishly in front of those who love him," Ms O'Connor said. However, MacGowan, who is due to appear before magistrates at Highbury, north London, on 6 March on drug charges, has not forgiven her for calling the police and has threatened to sue her for labelling him an addict. "I'd be dead if I was a junkie. The only thing I'm addicted to is alcohol," he said recently. He accused Ms O'Connor, who admits she has taken cannabis, of using drugs. She disputes MacGowan's allegations he saw her taking "handfuls of Valium". Ms O'Connor has apparently reciprocated with a threat to begin legal action after he made some less than flattering comments on the Irish broadcaster RTE's Late Late Show. |