Artist Kills Pete Doherty

Pete Doherty has been depicted dead in a selection of disturbing poses for a macabre new exhibition by Scottish artist Peter Howson.

The Contemporary painter using his brushes to illustrate Doherty with his eyes closed and a sickly pallor, giving the impression the Babyshambles singer has passed away.

And Howson insists he is using Doherty as an example as he hopes the controversial collection will steer the rocker's fans away from drugs.

Howson, who has battled drug and alcohol addiction himself, says: "Pete Doherty is someone who has really interested me over the last few months. His spiral downwards reminds me of what I went through myself and I can identify with the way he is acting.

"Me wanting to paint him dead was pointing the finger at him and saying 'You can influence a whole generation'. He could, if he wanted to, become the right kind of hero."

A spokesman for the Babyshambles frontman says: "Peter Howson has never met Pete as far as I am aware, so I don't know where he's getting his inspiration from. We have not seen the drawings and I don't see how Peter knows that much about Pete's lifestyle."

Last month, Doherty walked free from London's Wormwood Scrubs after serving 29 days of a 14-week prison sentence for probation violation and drugs offences.