Staff at a Witney music shop could not believe their eyes when pop star Pete Doherty walked in out of the pouring rain.

There was no mistaking the ex-front man of The Libertines, former drug addict and some time partner of supermodel Kate Moss - they recognised him by his tattoos.

The 28-year-old singer songwriter did not go into the Music Stand, in Witney's High Street, simply to find shelter - he ended up buying a guitar, harmonica and a tuning fork.

The unexpected superstar customer strolled in on Saturday afternoon to the chagrin of owner Morag Crowther, who wasn't there at the time.

She said: "I was at a college reunion.

"I got a call on my mobile phone from the shop telling me I'd never guess who came in.

"When I told some friends at the reunion, they said it was just my luck."

Doherty could have been in the area while visiting friend Kate Moss, who has a country home 15 miles away in Little Faringdon.

She has stirred up controversy following reports she has plans for a pub in the area styled on a former favoured watering hole of hers, The Hawley Arms, in Camden, North London.