Judge orders Amy Winehouse's father to pay nearly £1m to her friends

Mitch Winehouse, the father of late singer Amy Winehouse, must pay £950,000 (US$1.26m, A$1.82m) to two of her friends after losing a lawsuit he filed against them. The friends, former stylist Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay, had auctioned dozens of Amy Winehouse's possessions years after her death.

In the earlier case, Winehouse argued the women had no right to sell the items. The 155 auctioned lots, sold between 2021 and 2023, included clothing, ballet slippers, handbags, earrings, makeup, and a dress worn during her final tour in 2011. During the trial, the court was told the friends had "taken advantage" of Winehouse's forgetfulness and pocketed more than $1.4m from sales.

However, Judge Sarah Clarke ruled that the women did not deliberately conceal the items from Winehouse, who "knew all along" about the intended sale and pursued them only for financial gain after it was completed. "The claimant chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants which significantly damaged their reputations, career prospects, financial security and health," Clarke said on Wednesday.

She described Winehouse's conduct as "particularly serious" because he did this to two young women who had "stood faithfully by Amy." The singer, known for her distinctive husky voice and meteoric rise, died in July 2011 at age 27 from alcohol poisoning. The judge noted that Amy Winehouse was recognized for her "extraordinary generosity towards her friends and also those she barely knew."