The former guitarist of a notorious rock band has been found guilty of receiving stolen goods and drug possession.

Patrick Walden, a former member of Pete Doherty’s band Babyshambles, appeared in court on Friday (August 6) charged with receiving stolen goods and possessing heroin substitute methadone.

The Bonchurch Close resident was spotted acting “suspiciously” by a security guard in the Sutton branch of Wilkinson’s on January 9.

Police were called and Walden was then seen darting into an alleyway off Throwley Way in Sutton.

He returned with an HMV bag containing £200 worth of DVDs, Blue-Ray discs and a sat-nav and was arrested.

The 31-year-old was also found with two containers of Class A drug methadone which had been prescribed to another, unnamed man.

Walden returned to Sutton Magistrates’ Court again on Monday (August 9) to face further charges for being caught with 21 tablets of class C drug Diazepam on June 22.

During the two hearings, he pleaded guilty to all four charges and was handed two six-month conditional discharges, which will run concurrently, meaning he must not reoffend within that timeframe.

The court heard Walden, who suffers from depression, left the band in 2006 but developed a dependency on drugs and had been taking methadone since 2008.

Classically trained as a jazz guitarist, Walden joined Doherty’s band Babyshambles in 2004 and was a key element in the bands rise to notoriety.

Such was Walden’s influence in the band he co-wrote six tracks out of 16 that made it onto Down In Albion, Babyshambles' debut album.

Later in 2004, Walden joined the band on a British tour where their second single Killamangiro reached number eight on the singles chart.

The exact reasons for Walden’s departure from the band have not been officially disclosed but his last Babyshambles gig was at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in February 2006.

Since leaving the band, Walden has appeared with some of his old bandmates in a variety of groups and a solo album was anticipated at one point but never materialised.

Babyshambles have gone on to appear at leading festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, V Festival and T in the Park and have completed subsequent albums.