Emergency vodka supplies 'smuggled in for Richards'

Rolling Stone Keith Richards' wife Patti Hansen has been smuggling miniature bottles of vodka into the Auckland hospital where he is being treated for a brain haemorrhage, The Sun reported yesterday.

The 62-year-old rocker was admitted for specialist treatment after falling from a tree while on holiday in Fiji over a week ago.

A source at the hospital told the British tabloid yesterday: "He had a fright and managed to stop smoking and drinking for a few days. But then he started feeling really rough and withdrawn so he decided to get back on it with vodka miniatures."

The paper reported the bottles were believed to have been brought in by Ms Hansen and friends.

Ms Hansen, 50, was photographed last week toting several bags into Ascot Hospital.

A spokesperson for the band said yesterday Richards was in good spirits and was still under observation for concussion. She denied Richards would require a drill through his skull to drain blood from his brain, as some news reports had suggested.

"He's feeling good and in good spirits," spokesperson Fran Curtis said.

She did not know when he would leave New Zealand, but said the European leg of the band's world tour would begin as scheduled on May 27 in Barcelona.

Yesterday bandmates Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were waiting for an update from doctors.

Richards has been banned from flying until doctors are satisfied his brain will be able to cope with cabin pressure.