Amy Winehouse's father ordered to pay £1,000,000 to her friends who sold her clothes
Amy Winehouse's father has been ordered to pay two of his daughter's friends close to £1million after losing a High Court claim over the pair selling the legendary singer's clothes.
Mitch Winehouse, 75, had claimed Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay had 'deliberately concealed' selling dozens of Amy Winehouse's items at auctions in the USA in 2021 and 2023 and profited from them.
He argued the pair sought more than £700,000 for the clothing, which included a silk minidress worn by the iconic singer in her last ever performance in Belgrade in 2011 – which was sold for $243,200 (£182,000) – as well as other pieces of clothing, accessories and memorabilia.
Parry and Gourlay maintained the items already belonged to them or were given to them by Amy and Deputy High Court Judge Sarah Clarke KC threw out the claim in April.
Advert
In a hearing on Wednesday, July 29, Ms Justice Clarke ordered Winehouse to pay interim payments to each woman within the next two weeks, with £569,330 going to Parry and £394,521 to Gourlay.
He must also pay the pair's legal costs on an indemnity basis, which means the pair will recover more of their costs than is usual.
The judge said that as of April, Parry's legal costs were estimated to be £751,361 and Gourlay's were £487,132.
Winehouse made 'serious and unfounded allegations'
Winehouse also spent at least £950,000 on his own legal fees pursuing his, what Ms Justice Clarke labelled, 'inherently weak claim.'
Speaking on Wednesday, the judge said that Winehouse chose to: "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."
She added that Winehouse had 'deliberately' made the case into a 'large-scale and expensive' one, which she believed was 'calculated to exert commercial pressure on the defendants to settle on his terms.'
Ms Justice Clarke called his conduct 'unreasonable' and 'particularly serious', especially as Parry and Gourlay had 'stood faithfully by Amy' as well as with Winehouse himself and his family.
She said the pair had: "Demonstrated their honesty and integrity over many years."
Winehouse pursued the pair in an 'aggressive and unpleasant way.'
In April, Ms Justice Clarke found that the women had not deliberately concealed the items in question and that Winehouse could have learnt which items were up for sale by applying 'reasonable diligence.'
She also found that Winehouse 'knew all along' of the intended sales before the first auction was held.
She added that it was only after the sales had been made that he began to chase them for money in an 'aggressive and unpleasant way.'
Amy Winehouse died on July 23, 2011 at the age of 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning in her home in Camden, London.
Last week marked the 15th anniversary of her death.
LADbible Group has approached Mitch Winehouse for comment.
Topics: Amy Winehouse, Money, Music
Daniel Murphy