Amy Winehouse’s father accuses daughter’s friends of selling her belongings for £700,000
Mitch Winehouse, the father of the late Amy Winehouse, has accused two of the singer’s friends of selling her belongings for up to £700,000.
The case, which has been taken to the High Court, was heard on December 8th. During the hearing, it was claimed that stylist Naomi Parry and friend Catriona Gourlay allegedly profited from the selling of over 150 items originally belonging to Winehouse at auctions in the US between 2021 and 2023, per The Times.
According to lawyers for Mitch Winehouse, who is the administrator of his daughter’s estate, the two women did not inform him that they intended to profit from the items, and that he is seeking more than the £700,000 they allegedly gained.
Parry and Gourlay both deny the allegations against them, claiming that the items belonged to them when they were sold since they were gifted personally to them by the late singer.
Items that were sold in the two auctions included the silk dress the ‘Rehab’ singer wore during her final ever concert in Belgrade, Serbia, which sold in 2021 for £182,000.
It also featured the boots she wore on the cover of her 2003 debut album, Frank, which sold for an equivalent of £14,386.
However, Mitch Winehouse’s lawyer, Henry Legge KC, told the court: “Ms Parry and Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed from Mr Winehouse the fact that they were auctioning the items consigned by them to the 2021 auction and that they were claiming ownership of those items.”
He added that Parry was “instrumental in persuading Mr Winehouse to auction the estate’s items” but failed to tell him she “stood to gain from his agreeing to do so”.
Winehouse told the court: “I assume that, being so close, Amy would have given them some things, but 150 items, I just cannot believe it.”
In response, the lawyer for the accused, Beth Grossman, said: “Both defendants contend that the vast majority of the disputed items were in their possession from before Amy’s death in 2011, and in many instances from years before her death.”
Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning aged 27, on July 23rd, 2011, at her home in Camden, London.
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