Brent Magistrates’ Court in north London has heard the 43-year-old had a cocktail of drugs in his system.  He was found slumped in his Mercedes in Cricklewood, north London, on October 1 last year.

Prosecutor Andrew Torrington told the court last week that tests showed a therapeutic quantity of an anti-depressant in the singer’s system as well as illegal drug GHB.  Cannabis was also in his blood, but the prosecution do not maintain that this was the cause of his intoxication.

Michael Grieve - representing Michael, who wasn’t present at the hearing - said: "It’s the defendant’s case that his condition was caused by taking prescribed drugs."  He said there was a strong body of opinion which said a sleeping drug was the most likely explanation for his condition.

He also said it was common ground that GHB could be present in the blood without any illegal substances having been taken.  Mr Torrington said while GHB was banned, its effects could be created by drugs which aren’t controlled, including a drug called GBL.

Mr Grieve agreed with District Judge Katherine Marshall that the level of the singer’s unfitness could be viewed as high.  In terms of considering sentence, he told the judge: "One looks at the unfitness, not the cause of it. Whatever the level is, that’s all you need to look at."

At a hearing on May 8 George said: "I did something very stupid and I am very ashamed since doing it."

George Michael in Lennon piano tour - June 1 2007
Singer George Michael has taken John Lennon’s ’Imagine’ piano to New Orleans for the latest stop in a photographic tour of the US.

The pop star, current owner of the brown Steinway upright piano, hopes the photo opportunity will heighten awareness of the plight of the hurricane-stricken city.

Used to compose Lennon’s hit song Imagine in 1971, the piano will be photographed in the lobby of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and also at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.

The instrument, which bears burns left by Lennon’s cigarettes, will be photographed by Michael’s partner Kenny Goss, who owns Goss Gallery in Dallas.

The stop-off in New Orleans is part of a worldwide tour of sites where acts of violence have taken place and of locations that capture the human spirit.

Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29 2005, flooding 80% of New Orleans and wiping out the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

To date, photos have been taken at Dealy Plaza, site of President Kennedy’s assassination; the Memphis site of Martin Luther King’s killing; Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the former Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, site of a controversial 1993 confrontation between the religious sect and federal law enforcement officers.

A documentary and a book of the photos are under development with plans to donate proceeds to charity.