Doherty arrives at 4am for a sing-song with Amy Winehouse

So it was that Doherty was photographed at 4am this morning entering the home of 24-year-old Winehouse, clutching a guitar in hand. With friends like this, it's no wonder that Winehouse's mother-in-law has warned that the acclaimed singer, one of the brightest song-writing talents of her generation, is now taking "more drugs than ever".

Her husband Blake Civil-Fielder, whom she married in May, is currently in custody having been remanded on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to an alleged assault on a barman.

While Winehouse's worried parents may be pleased that Civil-Fielder is off the scene for a few months at least, they will be presumably less than delighted to see Kate Moss's ex Doherty popping up in his place.

Their relationship is - and this will be of some relief to Mitchell and Janis Winehouse - said to be purely professional. The pair are working on a duet called You Hurt The Ones You Love.

This explains Doherty's arrival at 4am this morning at Winehouse's new place in Bow, the singer having moved out of the marital home in Camden after deciding, according to reports, it holds too many "painful memories".

The Bow home is already becoming a place where music folklore is made. On Sunday, she appeared barefoot in the street wearing jeans and a bra, looking pained and painfully thin. Yesterday, she made another shoeless appearance although this time she had a jumper on, while dashing around the area looking for builders from whom she could cadge a cigarette, prompting one workman to remark: "She had no make-up on and no shoes. It was sad. She must have a fortune in the bank but was wandering around like a tramp after a cheeky fag."

Later yesterday, Winehouse was spotted stopping off at a pub in the Holloway Road before heading back to Bow.

Last week Winehouse scrapped the rest of her 16-date tour of Britain after a serious of increasingly shambolic concerts.

The tour began only days after Fielder-Civil was arrested and Winehouse told fans that she could not give her all on stage without him and that she had been ordered to rest by her doctor.