LONDON - London's police chief and England's chief prosecutor are at odds over whether Kate Moss could have been brought to trial on suspicion of using an illegal drug.
The dispute centres on an incident three years ago when a newspaper published a photograph of Kate Moss apparently snorting a white powder through a rolled-up five-pound note.
Police investigated the case at length but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to take it to court. Similar issues arose in more recent cases involving singer Amy Winehouse and Peaches Geldof, daughter of activist-rocker Bob Geldof.
In an interview published Friday in the London Evening Standard, Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said a jury should have been allowed to decide.
But Ken MacDonald, who heads the Crown Prosecution Service, said Blair seemed not to understand the law. MacDonald said prosecutors would have to prove that the powder was a particular class of drug, which was impossible.
The incident caused temporary damage to Moss' career but, after a stint of rehabilitation in the United States, she regained her high status as model and style-setter. She has also since parted company with her boyfriend at the time, rock musician Pete Doherty, a convicted drug user.
"The investigation of these cases is difficult due to there being no substance that can be forensically analyzed and used for prosecution evidence," Blair was quoted as saying. "We are keen to explore whether there are further options that can be considered."
Blair said the burden should be on the suspect to persuade a jury that the powder was a legal substance.
"You convince me that you're taking talcum powder," Blair said.
"My position is that a sensible jury would not expect people to be sniffing talcum powder."
Moss' lawyer specifically denied that the powder was cocaine but did not claim that it was talcum.
"The issue was not whether the white powder that Kate Moss was snorting was cocaine or talcum powder," MacDonald said.
"The law required us to prove that it was either a class A drug or a class B drug. We could only base our case on one of these options.
"It was impossible for us to do this since cocaine, a class A drug, and amphetamine, a class B drug, are both white powders."
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