Mitch Winehouse, father of the late British singer Amy Winehouse, has been ordered to pay nearly £950,000 (approximately €1.1 million) to two of his daughter's close friends, after a London High Court judge ruled against him in a case he brought over the auctioning of the singer's personal belongings.

The dispute centred on around 155 items — including clothes, handbags, ballet slippers, earrings, makeup, and a dress Amy Winehouse wore during her final tour in June 2011 — that were auctioned between 2021 and 2023, raising a total of roughly £1.2 million. Mitch Winehouse had sued the singer's former stylist Naomi Parry and her friend Catriona Gourlay, arguing they had no right to sell the items. The two women maintained that the possessions had either been given to them directly by Amy Winehouse or were already in their keeping — a position consistent with how the singer was known to behave. The court heard she was noted for her "extraordinary generosity towards her friends and also those she barely knew" and regularly gave away clothes, having no desire to be seen wearing the same item twice in public.

The High Court in London had already ruled against Mitch Winehouse earlier this year, finding that Parry and Gourlay had not deliberately concealed the sales and that he had known about the planned auctions all along. In Wednesday's costs ruling, judge Sarah Clarke went further, describing his conduct as a deliberate and aggressive pursuit of an "inherently weak claim" that caused serious damage to the two women's reputations, career prospects, financial security and health. The judge also characterised Mitch Winehouse as an "unreliable witness" who had launched the lawsuit "without taking the trouble to establish whether he had a valid claim" to the items in question.

"The fact that he knowingly and deliberately did this to two young women who had stood faithfully by Amy … makes his unreasonable conduct particularly serious," Judge Clarke said. She acknowledged that Mitch Winehouse was sensitive to anyone he believed was exploiting his daughter's memory, but found that sensitivity did not justify the claims made. He has been ordered to pay approximately £569,000 to Parry and £394,000 to Gourlay within two weeks.

Amy Winehouse, internationally celebrated for hits including 'Rehab' and 'Back to Black', died on 23 July 2011 at the age of 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning. The ruling underlines the complex legal and personal questions that frequently arise around the estates and belongings of deceased artists — and the reputational risks for those who pursue such disputes through the courts without solid legal foundation.