Mitch Winehouse has lost a legal battle with two friends of his late daughter Amy Winehouse, in a dispute over two auctions that took place in 2021 and 2023 where items connected to the singer were sold.
Winehouse Senior accused Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay of “deliberately concealing” the fact they were personally selling items in the two auctions, alongside the items put up for sale by the Amy Winehouse estate, which he administers.
But judge Sarah Clarke says in her ruling, “I find that neither Ms Parry nor Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed any of their disputed items from the claimant, and even if I am wrong about that, Mr Winehouse could have discovered what disputed items the defendants had with reasonable diligence”.
Parry and Gourlay said that the items they put up for sale in the two auctions had either been gifted to them by Amy before her death in 2011, or they were items they had leant to Amy to use during her music career. One item sold by Perry, who also worked as the singer’s stylist, was the silk mini dress worn by Amy during her final performance in Belgrade in Serbia, which was auctioned for $243,200.
In court last December, Mitch claimed that it was only after the first auction had taken place - when he was discussing what money had been raised with the auction house in LA - that he realised Parry and Gourlay, as well as the estate, were selling items.
In her judgement, Clarke explains that Mitch had been expecting auction proceeds in the region of $2.4 million, but was told the estate had netted $1.4 million. The auction house then explained that “Naomi’s items sold better than yours”. Mitch said he was “taken aback” by that statement and, “when I found out there were more than 150 items [sold at auction by the defendants], I was flabbergasted and in shock”.
But Clarke concludes that there was no evidence at all of bad conduct on the part of Parry and Gourlay. It’s a ruling which, Parry says in a statement, “cleared my name, unequivocally and in full, after years of deeply damaging and unfounded allegations brought by Mitch Winehouse”.
Clarke’s judgement notes that Mitch “suffered a great tragedy in the loss of his daughter”, and that “since Amy’s death, he has worked hard to keep her memory alive, including through the charitable entity the Amy Winehouse Foundation”, which received a portion of the estate’s proceeds from the auctions.
However, the judge is also critical of Mitch, who she dubs an “unreliable witness”. And, she adds, while he is “understandably sensitive about anyone who he perceives as exploiting Amy’s memory, particularly for financial gain”, he is “equally sensitive about ensuring that the family continue to benefit financially” from his daughter’s estate.
