George Michael regains freedom after jail sentence

POP star George Michael has said he wants to "start again" after being released from prison. The 47-year-old singer said it was "fantastic" to be free again after serving half of his eight-week sentence for crashing his Range Rover while high on cannabis.

• George Michael speaks to reporters outside his London home after being released Picture: Yui Mok/PA

The former Wham! star, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, said he wanted to be open with the press now that he had been released from Highpoint Prison in Suffolk.

Speaking outside his home in north London yesterday, he told reporters: "I'm coming out here on my own so that you'll realise I just want to start again.

"I'm going to try to stop running away from you guys. You'll get sick of me. You'll see me about."

Michael was moved to the lower-security category C prison at Highpoint from Pentonville Prison in north London last month. He was jailed, given a five-year driving ban and fined 1,250 after he admitted driving while unfit through drugs and also possessing two cannabis joints after appearing at London's Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on 14 September.

At the time, District Judge John Perkins told the singer that he had taken a "dangerous and unpredictable mix" of prescription drugs and cannabis and there was no option but jail.

The singer initially appealed against the sentence but this challenge was withdrawn. He was placed in solitary confinement during his stay at high-risk unit Pentonville Prison.

Michael was reportedly returning from a Gay Pride parade when he was found slumped at the wheel of his car after it smashed into a branch of photo store Snappy Snaps in north London in July this year.

The release of the remastered version of his 1987 debut solo album Faith was postponed after a message from Sony Music and the singer was posted on the singer's official website.

Fans who have already ordered the limited edition box set of the album have been told "receipt will be subject to a delay until the new release date has been set".

Michael was caught "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles in 1998, an episode that inspired hit single Outside.

Michael was cautioned and released by police in February 2006 for possession of what were classed at the time as Class C drugs.

He was then arrested in Cricklewood, North-West London in May 2007 after he was found to be obstructing the road while in his car at a set of traffic lights. He pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs, the same offence as his most recent conviction.

This conviction led to a two-year driving ban and community service.

In September 2008, he was arrested in a public toilet in Hampstead Heath, London for possession of Class A and C drugs but was cautioned and released.