Pete Doherty will be working on Babyshambles’ new album from behind bars, his bandmates have confirmed.

The band’s drummer Adam Ficek said that they were all flabbergasted by the decision to incarcerate Pete, but they were still going to go full steam ahead with working on the new album.

Speaking to xfm from Thailand, Ficek said: "I had no idea that this court date bore any significance. It's a bit of a shock to be honest."

"As soon as I get home next week I'll be getting together with Mik (Whitnall) and Drew (O'Connell) in a studio, burn off nine of the new demos and send them to Peter so that he can work on them in there.

"It will give him something to keep him occupied in there, keep him focussed and remind him that outside we're all holding the fort for him and as soon as he gets out it will be business as usual."

Ficek said that Pete has the full support of his record label Parlophone as well as the band themselves.

He added: "It's a disappointing and dark time but it will take a lot more than this to stop the Babyshambles wagon trail.

"It can be frustrating but it's nothing new. We all had a choice when we joined the band if we wanted to get involved and we all knew what we were getting into. We know Peter's strengths and his demons and we deal with them as human beings as well as musicians."

(by Scott Colothan)