Amy Winehouse's father ordered to pay almost £1m to late singer's friends

Amy Winehouse's father has been ordered to pay just under £1m to two of his daughter's friends after a failed High Court claim over the auctioning of the late singer's items.

Mitch Winehouse's own legal costs also amounted to at least £950,000 in the failed bid against Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay.

He claimed the women had profited from selling dozens of the musician's items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023, and argued they had "deliberately concealed" their sale.

But Judge Sarah Clarke KC dismissed the claim earlier this year, finding that he "knew all along" about the intended sale and only afterwards started to pursue them for money in an "aggressive and unpleasant way".

In a judgment on Wednesday, the judge said: "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."

As of April, Ms Parry's costs were estimated to be £715,361, while Ms Gourlay's were £487,132, Judge Clarke said.

Mr Winehouse must pay interim payments to both women - £569,330 to Ms Parry and £394,521 to Ms Gourlay - within the next two weeks.

He has also been ordered to pay their legal costs on an indemnity basis, which means those recovering their costs generally gain a higher percentage of what they spent than is usual. This is often awarded when one side has behaved particularly unreasonably.

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Judge Clarke said that in pursuing his claim, Mr Winehouse had "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".

He also aimed to expand his claim "very late in the day", which caused the six-day trial in December and January to overrun by three days, while he "actively courted publicity for his serious allegations, including in the press and in court when he knew the press were present".

Judge Clarke said: "This deliberate course of action was undertaken by the claimant with the aim of damaging the defendants' reputations and professional prospects in order to force them to settle the litigation on his terms and pay him the proceeds of sale of their items.

"He did so, knowing that they were vulnerable both financially and in status, and that his public allegations and insinuations of impropriety would only increase their vulnerability.

"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."

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