Shamed George Michael jailed for eight weeks for smashing his 4x4 into shop while high on cannabis

Jailed: George Michael arriving at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court today

Troubled superstar George Michael was finally jailed today for the latest in a string of driving offences committed while he was high on cannabis.

The former Wham! star, whose drug-taking is notorious, was handed an eight-week sentence for smashing his Range Rover into a photography shop in July.

The 47-year-old sighed as the jail term was announced by District Judge John

Judge Perkins reprimanded the singer for failing to seek help to counter his 'addiction' to cannabis and putting the public at risk.

Inside court, his long-term boyfriend Kenny Goss put his head in his hands in despair and later left the building wiping his eyes.

Michael will serve four weeks in prison and spend the rest on licence. He was also banned from driving for five years, fined £1,250 and ordered to pay £100 in costs.

One fan sobbed in the public gallery as the multi-millionaire, who was wearing a smart grey suit, black tie and Ray Ban sunglasses, was taken down to the cells.

District Judge Perkins told him he had taken a 'dangerous and unpredictable mix' of prescription drugs and cannabis before driving in the early hours of July 4.

He said: 'It does not appear that you took proper steps to deal with what is clearly an addiction to cannabis. That's a mistake which puts you and, on this occasion, the public at risk.'

Today's sentence is the culmination of a series of clashes with the law for the singer, who has been open about his use of cannabis.

He was also banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours of community service after a similar crash in October 2006.

And he has been cautioned for drugs possession, questioned over several minor accidents and famously fined for 'engaging in a lewd act' in a California public toilet

Michael admitted crashing his Range Rover while under the influence of cannabis

The singer was found slumped in his car in the early hours of July 4

Fans had screamed his name and tried to break through the security barriers as he arrived at the court in north London today.

He had already been warned he could face jail and was led inside by four private bodyguards after emerging from the black car with tinted windows.

After the sentencing, fans outside the building openly wept.

District Judge Perkins told the court he had taken into account how Michael had entered rehab since the accident to help anxiety, depression and insomnia, which had led him to depend on prescription drugs.

He said: 'I accept entirely that you have shown remorse for the offence, that you are ashamed of it, that you admitted it.'

But he added that a jail term was inevitable because of Michael's previous conviction and said it was 'with regret' that he could find no mitigation to imposing one.

Upset: Michael's boyfriend Kenny Goss leaving court after the sentencing

Distraught: One George Michael fan wipes away tears outside the court

Mukul Chawla QC, for the singer, told the court he felt 'profound shame and horror' at repeating the same offence he committed in 2006.

'He acknowledges his actions of driving had the effect of causing other road users to be in danger and that stark fact is something about which he is greatly ashamed,' he said.

'It is no exaggeration to describe him as a very kind, considerate and loyal man, constantly concerned for the plight of others. The prospect he could have put anyone else in danger is an appalling prospect to him.'

A Serco security van takes George Michael from Highbury Corner Magistrates'
Court to begin his eight-week sentence

He said Michael had tried to turn his life around since the incident and had started writing songs again.

'For the first time in many years he has started writing again. His creativity, so long hampered by his drug dependence, is re-emerging.'

He had also personally paid for repairs at the Snappy Snaps shop in Hampstead near his home, his lawyer said.

The star, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, had admitted possessing class B drugs and driving while unfit through drugs at a hearing last month.

He was found slumped at the wheel of his 4x4 at around 4am on July 4 after it ploughed into the shop.

Michael had been on his way home from a Gay Pride parade and two police officers found him apparently unconscious behind the wheel.

An Artists impression showing George Michael in the dock in Highbury Corner Magistrates'
Court in north London this afternoon

The Snappy Snaps in Hampstead after the accident

Prosecutor Penny Fergusson told the court last month that Michael appeared to try to get the car back in gear when he was roused by one officer banging on his window.

She said: 'Mr Michael looked at the officer with his eyes wide open and the officers could see his pupils were dilated. They opened the door and could see he was dripping with sweat.'

The court heard Michael did not initially respond to police and when asked what his name was, replied: 'George.'

Ms Fergusson said Michael was confused and when told he had crashed into a shop, added: 'No I didn't. I didn't crash into anything.'

When he got out of the car the officers found he was soaked with sweat, breathing heavily and had to be held up.

Crush: The scene outside the court in north London as George Michael is led out of court

Michael was handcuffed, arrested and driven back to Hampstead police station where he failed a test to find whether he was fit to drive.

He had not been drinking but was found to be carrying two cannabis cigarettes. Tests on a sample of his blood showed he had chemicals linked to the drug in his system.

The prosecutor added: 'He could not remember the route he took or crashing his car. He just remembers the police officer knocking at his window.'

Michael admitted smoking a 'small quantity' of cannabis about 10pm the previous evening and said he also took a newly-prescribed sedative to help him sleep.

He told police he decided to drive between his homes in Highgate and Hampstead to meet a friend on the spur of the moment and forgot he had taken the sedative.

Michael revealed at the end of last month that he was having professional help and 'counselling' for drugs.

In a shock statement, he revealed how he secretly went on a 14-day detox programme the day after the July crash.

Since then, he has been undergoing drug counselling 'several times' a week, he told fans in an open letter.

The admision was the first time the star has tried to explain his increasingly erratic behaviour in recent years.

He blamed his behaviour on ‘personal problems’ which had ‘clearly got the better’ of him - and admitted that ‘pride’ had stopped him seeking help in the past.

It is believed the personal problems Michael was referring to stem from the deaths of his late boyfriend Anselmo Feleppa from an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage in 1993 and then his mother Lesley Angold Harrison, an English dancer who died from cancer in 1997.

Until this year, Michael had ignored all previous appeals from concerned friends such as Sir Elton John and Bono to quit smoking marjuana.

He had even appeared on television programme The South Bank Show smoking the drug.

Michael, who was being filmed during his greatest hits tour, said at the time: 'It's a great drug, but obviously it's not very healthy. You can't afford to smoke it if you've got anything to do. Anything at all would be foolish.'

He added that it could be a 'terrible, terrible drug' and that it could 'chill you out to such a degree that you could lose your ambitions,' but denied having a drug problem on camera.

In a later interview with on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, he admitted his cannabis use had become a 'problem.' He added: 'Absolutely I would like to take less, no question.'

But he added that he did not think his habit was 'getting in the way of my life in any way.'

However, he was at least believed to have cut down his habit from 25 marijuana joints a day a few years ago to eight a day now.

In an interview last December, he said: 'I was probably more stoned in those days. I was existing on a balance of Starbucks and weed. I probably do about seven or eight a day now.’