SHAMED: Corrie star Jimmi Harkishin's drugs drama

THIS is the depraved, shameful moment drug-numbed Corrie favourite Jimmi Harkishin chucks his career down the pan.

Hunched and trembling in the corner of a club, loo roll at his feet, he vomits into a red bucket in front of shocked children's charity night guests.

As he hold his head in his hands and drools spittle, the actor is barely conscious after taking the hallucinogenic drug ketamine, a powerful horse tranquiliser.

But minutes after our exclusive pictures were taken his condition worsened dramatically.

Jimmi — womanising shopkeeper Dev in the soap — collapsed completely and had to be carried unconscious by bouncers into a back room.

One onlooker said: "It was alarming and humiliating for a celebrity. But Jimmi was so gone he wasn't even aware.

"It took two men to carry him and a third to carry the red sick bucket and loo roll."

The star refused to let staff call an ambulance. He later recovered and was heard complaining to a pal that something had been spiked. He said: "Someone's given me ketamine."

Wreck

But Coronation Street bosses are likely to take a dim view of his antics.

The heart-throb actor narrowly escaped the sack and was ordered to clean up his act after he was exposed by the News of the World for a sex and cocaine romp two years ago.

The new drug drama came last Sunday at Rumours nightclub in Blackpool when Jimi, 48, was celebrity guest at a radio station's ‘Help A Local Child' charity fund-raiser.

He arrived in a limo at 10pm looking super-smart in a slate grey three-piece suit. At first he was the life and soul of the party which had an 007 Casino Royale theme.

He signed autographs, posed for snaps with fans and mingled with other local celebs, such as Holby City star Ian Aspinall and Where The Heart Is actor Danny Seward.

Within three hours he was a delirious, bumbling wreck.

Shocked clubbers watched open-mouthed as Jimmi began babbling incoherently and staggering around in a highly distressed state.

One customer who tried to help revealed: "He complained that his head was spinning and that he was feeling giddy.

"Then he started sweating heavily and downing glasses of water, convinced that something wasn't agreeing with him. He looked ill. Before long, he was rambling and couldn't even manage to string a sentence together.

"He was speaking in a strangely disjointed fashion. In more lucid moments, he'd manage to say, ‘I've had ketamine, GHB or something else.'

"When people reacted with shock he told them, ‘Someone must have spiked my drink'. But he was completely out of control."

Then he started vomiting violently all over the dance floor.

Just before 1.30am Jimmi had to be helped into the club's VIP section where he was given a plastic bucket and a toilet roll.

But his condition continued to nosedive, and his behaviour became increasingly erratic.

Ketamine — or Special K as it is known on the street — is a hallucinogenic drug which affects senses, judgement and co-ordination.

In powder form it is similar to cocaine. As a liquid, vets use it to tranquilise horses.

At one point in the evening, the police were nearly called after shambolic Jimmi snatched a local lapdancer's mobile phone when she tried to take photos.

Babbling

An eyewitness revealed: "He put it inside his shirt and refused to give it back. His behaviour was really disturbing. He seemed very confused, and was acting like a spoilt child.

"Jimmi's friends were desperately trying to talk to him, calm him down and get some sense out of him.

"He was openly sobbing and was babbling away about his family, tears rolling down his cheeks. He kept repeating that he didn't know what was wrong and why things were going wrong. No one could understand what he meant.

"While all this was going on he was still throwing up all over the floor every now and then.

"But whenever anyone suggested that he should go home, Jimmi became more agitated and was adamant that he didn't want to do that.

"He just wanted to sit in the corner of the club, bent over a red bucket, heaving, with a loo roll at his feet."

"After he collapsed and was carried into the back room the manager let him lie down for a while to calm down. It was very alarming because, when he came to, Jimmi was very distressed and disorientated.

"He didn't seem to have any idea about what was happening or any control over what he was doing.

"Around 1.40am one of his friends, dressed in a beige suit, was sitting with him. Jimmi repeated to him, ‘I think somebody's given me ketamine', and commenting that something was wrong.

"His friend also mentioned the word ‘ketamine'. I heard it clearly.

"But when one of the club staff approached and offered to call 999 and get an ambulance, Jimmi absolutely didn't want that."

The actor remained in the private room for an hour and half.

Eventually, he managed to regain his composure enough to leave the club around 3am and return home in a limo. However, his Granada TV bosses — who believed he had managed to kick drugs — will be bitterly disappointed by this latest setback.

In December 2004 romeo Jimmi — who has four children by three different women — only just avoided losing his £100,000-a-year role after he was caught enjoying a drug-fuelled sex romp with blonde TV girl Miranda Lipinksi.

He was captured on video snorting cocaine from a kitchen worktop during a secret sex session with the blonde ‘Grab A Grand' telly hostess.

Pictures showed Jimmi snorting cocaine and then licking the powder from his fingers at her north London home.

Miranda later admitted: "He just can't get enough cocaine. His life is ruled by drugs. He's out of control and needs help."

Shortly afterwards, ex-lover Marie Howsin told how the disgraced actor regularly used cocaine and poppers (amyl nitrate) during sex.

She revealed how Jimmi turned into an animal as he made love to her at least five times in a night of drug-fuelled passion.

Poppers

She said: "When I wandered into the bedroom he already had a couple more lines sorted out on the bedside table. He'd have a drink then the coke.

"I was shocked when in the middle of sex he got out the poppers and started sniffing that as well."

Jimmi pleaded with Corrie bosses for a second chance, claiming he turned to drugs because of the strain of an intense storyline. To the fury of his co-stars he kept his job and was granted indefinite leave for hypnotherapy and counselling.

Long-suffering partner Susan Beaton, 37, has continued to stand by the actor despite his womanising. School inspector Susan has shared his north London home for 17 yearsand they have two children.

Charity organiser West Taylor confirmed: "Jimmi became really ill all of a sudden."

A Coronation Street spokesman said: "Jimmi categorically denies taking any illegal substance on that night. He strongly believes that a drink was spiked. He was very ill."

DR HILARY WRITES

KETAMINE is a Class C drug—which means it's illegal to possess it and to supply it. It can mean up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

In liquid form it's a powerful horse tranquiliser but as a powder it has recently gained popularity as a recreational drug and is now on a par with cocaine, ecstasy, crack and skunk.

On the street, it is known as Special K, Vitamin K or just K. People take it because it makes them feel like their brain has been separated from their body.

It creates a mind-altering experience for up to three hours and users may feel unable to move physically. It is much more dangerous if mixed with alcohol and other drugs.

There is a risk of breathing problems and heart failure. When taken for the first time it can be very scary because users don't know what's happening.