THE pilot who took a convicted drug smuggler on a day trip before crashing in a garden has admitted being a drug addict himself.

Sid Clark, 47, from Barming, near Maidstone, said he became disoriented by low cloud during the short flight from Rochester Airport on Saturday and his Cessna 172 ploughed into a tree near Hythe.

But he denied having smoked anything before taking off.

His passenger Tim Des Vignes was on day release from Blantyre category C Prison in Goudhurst where he is serving a sentence for importing drugs.

Both escaped the crash with minor injuries.

He said: "I'm completely traumatised. We are lucky to be alive. I'm a serious pilot. I feel so embarrassed this has happened to me."

After Mr Clark told the Kent Messenger on Wednesday he had previously had a heroin, cocaine and ecstasy habit, police raided his Tonbridge Road home and seized 300 cannabis plants.

Mr Clark, who also said he was HIV positive, described Des Vignes, 53, as an acquaintance, "a friend of a friend."

He said he did not think he had done anything wrong taking Des Vignes, who had never flown with him before, on the hour-long flight from Rochester Airport in a loop over Dover.

He said: "I thought I'd give him something exciting to do because I had a plane booked for that afternoon anyway, so I said come along.

"He had to give his address and his name and that before he left which he did for insurance purposes. We did everything by the book."

Des Vignes is serving a sentence for importing drugs and was on a 12-hour formal leave of absence on the day of the flight, a gratuity normally granted to allow inmates to maintain ties with their families.

After treatment at Ashford's William Harvey Hospital, Des Vignes was taken to Maidstone Prison .

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed an investigation into the incident is underway.

Mr Clark is on police bail to reappear at a police station on April 23, while allegations of cannabis production and abstraction of electricity are investigated.

See this Friday’s Kent Messenger to read the full interview with Sid Clark.