Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch loses high court battle against her friends

Amy Winehouse’s father has lost a high court claim against two of his daughter’s friends over the auctioning of items once owned by the singer. Mitch Winehouse, acting as the administrator of his daughter’s estate, sued her stylist Naomi Parry and friend Catriona Gourlay over claims they profited from selling dozens of items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023. Lawyers for Mitch Winehouse told a trial in December the two women had “deliberately concealed” the sales, and that the legal proceedings were his “only means of obtaining answers”. Barristers for Parry and Gourlay said the items were either gifts from Amy Winehouse, or were already owned by their clients. In her ruling, the deputy high court judge Sarah Clarke KC said: “I find that neither Ms Parry nor Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed any of their disputed items from the claimant, and even if I am wrong about that, Mr Winehouse could have discovered what disputed items the defendants had with reasonable diligence.” During the trial, lawyers for Parry accused Mitch Winehouse of bringing the claim out of “petty jealousy”, which he denied. He said he thought the money from the 2021 auction would be split between him, Amy Winehouse’s mother Janis, and the Amy Winehouse Foundation (AWF). The court heard how the auction catalogue contained 834 items and that the sale raised $1.4m (£1.05m) for the Amy Winehouse estate, 30% of which went to the foundation. Items Parry sold included a silk mini dress worn by Winehouse during her final performance in Belgrade in Serbia, which was auctioned for $243,200. She told the court Mitch Winehouse had offered her $250,000 for the proceeds of her sale and to make the legal claim go away, but that she would “rather set the money on fire than give him a penny”. The judge said: “Mr Winehouse is clearly a strong character but also someone who has suffered a great tragedy in the loss of his daughter. Since Amy’s death, he has worked hard to keep her memory alive, including throug…