He tells the Gloucestershire Echo: "He didn't stand a chance. His mother was a heroin addict. I feel bad that I brought him into the band - he couldn't cope. I feel a bit responsible for his death. There you are - I've confessed my demons."

Lydon is currently promoting his book Anger Is My Energy: My Life Uncensored, which he says is a "story of my childhood and Johnny Rotten - not the one invented by Malcolm Mclaren."