He remains one of the most revered men in indie rock but at what point will former The Libertines and Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty overstep the mark? Ahead of a Kent gig, Chris Price reports.

The enigma surrounding Pete Doherty is best summed up with an anecdote from my days as a student at the University of Leeds.

Walking past the union on campus I spied a girl in distress 50 yards ahead of me, crying with her head held in her hands. I carried on walking towards the girl, now surrounded by friends, wondering what all the fuss was about.

To the right of her was a large coach and a gathering of around 25 bustling people. My assumption was there was some sort of fight going on, so with my then burgeoning journalistic instinct, I decided to take a closer look.

Just as I got up to the melee I realised there was in fact no fisticuffs whatsoever. Instead the crowd were elbowing each other for leverage. As they were pushed back by a security guard I feigned cluelessness and walked on by, looking up to find myself face to face with a bleary-eyed and unexpectedly tall Pete Doherty.

The crying girl was a crazed fan and at this point was positively bawling at having seen her idol emerge from his tour bus to make a rare trip into the daylight for the short walk to the stage door.

Yet before me stood a sweaty, smelly, dodgily dressed hobo who looked like he didn’t know what planet he was on, let alone what city he was due to play in that night.

Of course, adolescent girls pining for drug-addled scoundrel rock stars is nothing new. Yet where other rock stars have either grown out of their youthful abandon or died, Pete continues to get into trouble with the law and survive.

In March the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was granted unconditional bail until sentencing later this month.

In December 2009, Doherty was spared jail but was ordered to pay £2,050 in fines, and was banned from driving for 18 months for driving dangerously, while drunk, and being in possession of heroin. This was despite the court being told that Doherty had 21 previous drug offences and six motoring offences. The list goes on and on.

Last year – when the band which made him famous, The Libertines, announced their reunion shows at Reading and Leeds Festivals – he was absent from press interviews for fear he would drop himself in it.

When I inquired about a chat with Pete looking ahead to his Kent gig I received a succinct response from his management saying “sorry but we are not doing interviews”.

Perhaps part of this is his desire to avoid questions about his much-publicised failed relationship with Kate Moss, a story still of interest despite them breaking up in 2007. Fair enough, he deserves his privacy many would say.

But then there are all the cancelled gigs with The Libertines and Babyshambles back in the day. He is renowned for being quite slippery in a solo capacity too.

How many chances will one man get? People still flock to see his shows and yet it still feels like he is one step away from cancelling on a whim, throwing in the towel or winding up in jail.

His creative talent means his gig at Folkestone’s Leas Cliff Hall will still be epic. His music and lyrics are at times tender, at times sorrowful and at times positively rabble rousing.

Let’s just hope nothing happens until then.

Pete Doherty performs at Folkestone’s Leas Cliff Hall on Monday, May 9.