Amy Winehouse’s dad, Mitch Winehouse, has been ordered to pay nearly $2.7 million to two of the late singer’s friends after accusing them of selling Amy’s items behind his back.
On Wednesday, London judge Justice Sarah Clarke ruled against Mitch’s claims that the 2021 action, organized through Los Angeles’ Julien’s Auctions, was “deliberately concealed from him” by Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourla, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.
Justice Clarke said Mitch was “prone to aggressive reactions to perceived wrongs” and “knew all along” about the auction.
Mitch “chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants,” Justice Clarke stated.
The judge also said Mitch’s claims against Parry and Gourla “significantly damaged their reputations, career prospects, financial security and health.”
Mitch must pay $760,533.79, to Parry and $527,016.93 to Gourlay in damages and legal fees in interim payments within the next two weeks.
He also racked up around $1.28 million in his own legal costs, according to the BBC.
Justice Clarke said Mitch “deliberately turned this case into large-scale and expensive litigation, in circumstances calculated to exert commercial pressure on the defendants to settle on his terms.”
“The fact that he knowingly and deliberately did this to two young women who had stood faithfully by Amy, and also by him and his family, and who had demonstrated their honesty and integrity over many years, makes his unreasonable conduct particularly serious,” Justice Clarke added.
In December 2023, Mitch sued Parry and Gourlay in London’s High Court, accusing them of putting belongings Amy owned throughout her lifetime up for sale at auctions in London in 2021 and 2023.
Mitch argued in court docs that because the “Back to Black” singer’s pals listed the items “in their own names and on their own behalf” that his daughter’s property was “converted” to “their own use.”
He was seeking more than $930,000 from Amy’s pals in his lawsuit.
According to an online bio, Parry worked as Amy’s stylist since 2005.
Gourlay, for her part, was close friends with Amy for years, and once spoke about their strong bond in the BBC Two documentary “Reclaiming Amy,” according to the Sun.
Amy was found dead of an apparent drug overdose at her London apartment in July 2011. She was 27.
It was later confirmed that the “Rehab” singer passed away from accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after a period of abstinence.
Three years after Amy’s death, Mitch revealed that he still talked to his late daughter daily.
“She’s there all right, I feel her, sense her,” he told the Sun at the time.
Then in 2018, Mitch shared that he felt Amy’s ghost still visited him, and that her “spirit comes and sits on the end of my bed.”