EARL 'USED ROLLED UP 5 POUND NOTE TO SNORT COCAINE AT SAVOY'

THE 10th Earl of Hardwicke snorted cocaine through a rolled up 5 pound note in a
suite at the Savoy Hotel and supplied the drug to an investigative reporter
posing as an Arab sheikh, a jury was told yesterday.

Hardwicke, 28, the youngest hereditary peer to take a seat in the House of
Lords when he first sat on the Tory benches six years ago, allegedly told
his hosts: "We call it help. That's what we call coke because we need it."
After an evening of drinking and dining, he had become impatient over the
delayed arrival of the drug which he later described as "industrial
Sheffield" because of its strength, Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Martin Hicks, prosecuting, told the jury that Hardwicke said: "Come on,
bring on the Charlie. I want a big fat line. I am going to have the biggest
line I have had in my life and then be sick." Hardwicke, of west London, who
also showed the fake Arabs around the House of Lords, and Stefan Thwaites,
29, his friend and business partner, of Tooting, south London, deny
supplying cocaine last September.

Mr Hicks said that the two had been "the recipients of an elaborate
deception" by undercover reporters from the News of the World posing as Arab
businessmen who recorded and videoed meetings at the Savoy and at Bibendum,
a Conran restaurant, where Hardwicke handed over a packet of cocaine hidden
under a copy of a newspaper in return for 120 pounds.

The reporters' subterfuge was "designed to expose Hardwicke and Thwaites as
being capable of engaging in the criminal supply of cocaine". Mr Hicks said
the two were "lured by the prospect of financial reward, tricked into
believing they were in the company of like minded people and entrapped, not
into doing something they would not otherwise have done, but what they
wanted to do".

He told the jury that Hardwicke, charged as Joseph Philip Hardwicke,
inherited his title when he was three on the death of his grandfather. In
the Lords he sat on two committees, one to do with films and the other with
motorcycles.

Last year, when reform of the House of Lords was at the forefront of public
debate, Hardwicke - "sensitive to the issue" - said he thought that young
people gave the House a better image. Mr Hicks said Thwaites described
Hardwicke as "the biggest player. He is known as a member of the House of
Lords but he goes out to parties all night".

The court was told that the two friends went to the Savoy after being
approached at the Italian scooter franchise they owned by a man claiming to
represent wealthy Middle Eastern businessmen. At the time the future for
both "looked rosy" but what followed, said Mr Hicks, "caused a tragic
reversal of their prospects" and led to their court appearance. Hardwicke
was also suspended from the Tory whip.

The pair expected the Savoy meeting to be formal, but they were wined and
dined in the River Room by the bogus Arabs dressed in flowing robes. Back in
the suite, Mr Hicks said, the conversation turned to drugs and girls and
when the sheikh asked the peer if he liked girls, Hardwicke replied: "I do,
I like everything, unfortunately."

Mr Hicks said Thwaites offered the fake Arabs a number if they wanted drugs
and Hardwicke snapped his fingers and said "like this". When the Arab asked
directly: "Can you sort some?" Hardwicke replied: "We can sort some."
Thwaites made a number of calls on his mobile and the drugs were delivered
to him at the hotel that night, the jury heard.

When the Arab insisted on paying, Hardwicke allegedly took the money, tucked
it into Thwaites's pocket and said: "The next time is on us." He said
although they were being "progressively influenced by alcohol each knew what
they were saying and what was being said to them".

Mr Hicks told the court that when the drug arrived Hardwicke cleared a
table, made lines with his credit card and snorted the drug through a rolled
up 5 pound note. He said the two men were exposed in the News of the World and
later interviewed by police.

The trial continues.