Police press Moss to return

Scotland Yard last night urged Kate Moss to return to England to face allegations of drug taking.

One of its most senior officers issued an extraordinary statement advising her to return for questioning over claims she snorted cocaine.

The 31- year- old model has refused to return home since a newspaper published pictures of her taking the drug with her then boyfriend Pete Doherty at a recording studio three months ago.

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he did not want to order a formal extradition but insisted the saga had gone on too long.

Mr Ghaffur, of the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime directorate, said last night: 'We would like to appeal for her to return, see us and tell us her side of the story.

'For everybody's sake, and for her to move on, the sooner she speaks to us the better.

'We wish for the investigation to take its course, and she would be dealt with very fairly and proportionatelyas would be the case with anybody else.'

Officers want to arrest Miss Moss over the allegations and have become increasingly frustrated by her refusal to return to Britain.

Soon after the drugs allegations surfaced in the autumn, she checked herself into a drug rehabilitation clinic in the U.S.

At the time her advisers indicated she would return to London before Christmas. But she has remained abroad.

Mr Ghaffur said he felt he had no option but to make a public statement calling on her to come home and face the music. The drugs inquiry is being handled by a squad under his command. He jointly holds the third most senior rank at Scotland Yard.

Miss Moss, who has a three-year-old daughter, is believed to be staying at her rented home in Los Angeles.

She returned there after a skiing break with her latest lover, 20-yearold songwriter Jamie Burke.

Mr Ghaffur said arrests were expected in the drugs investigation.

'The net on others involved is closing in, and there will be arrests,' he said.

'What we have done so far is conducted searches of the studios where the matter was filmed, in addition to obtaining the full digital recording of the incident, which is currently being closely studied by the investigative team.'