George Michael no longer making bid for early release from prison

Singer-songwriter George Michael is no longer making an appeal for an early release from prison.

Michael, 47, had hired lawyers to get him out of Pentonville just three days into his eight-week prison sentence for drug driving.

But they cancelled an application for him to be released on bail pending a full-scale appeal against the sentence, and he is now likely to serve half his sentence before he is freed.

The singer had been due to appear via videolink for a conference with his lawyers before a bail hearing at Blackfriars Crown Court, London.

A clerk for his barrister, Mukul Chawla QC, confirmed the hearing had been pencilled in the lawyer's diary.

"It was in the diary, but now there's nothing in his diary today," the Daily Star quoted the clerk as saying.

A court spokesman added: "It's been cancelled completely. There are no new dates for the hearing."