Amy Winehouse's other half, that Blake Fielder Civil, has been remanded in custody over the whole GBH and perverting the course of justice thing. As previously reported, Fielder Civil was in court on Friday where he and co-defendant Michael Brown pleaded not guilty to all charges guvnor. The judge ruled that both defendants should stay in jail until at least the next court hearing on the case - which isn't until 18 Jan - meaning Winehouse will have to spend Christmas without her husband. And given that the actual trial isn't likely to happen until next June, he could be locked up quite a bit longer than that too. Amy was at Friday's hearing, and reportedly blew kisses and mouthed "I love you" to Blake from the public gallery.
That decision will presumably please Winehouse's mother who, as previously reported, blames her son in law for her daughter's druggy existence, and who hopes Amy will kick the drugs while away from her husband. Fielder Civil's mother, who possibly won't be so happy with the judge's decision to keep her son incarcerated, has in turn blamed the music business for her son and daughter in law's drug addictions. Asked about the couple's seeming obsession with drugs, Georgette Civil told reporters last week: "It's not how we were brought up or how we've brought our three boys up. But in London and in the music industry drugs are glamorized and it sickens me. Why is it deemed clever that artists like Amy or Pete Doherty or Kate Moss take Class A drugs? Why do their careers seem only to thrive after scandalous tales of their drug taking? The music industry and the whole cult of celebrity have a hell of a lot to answer for when it comes to drugs and I cannot understand how they get away with it".
Back to Winehouse, and the tabloids are reporting that her family, friends and management are now piling on extra pressure to persuade the singer to go into rehab - with some gossiping that Amy has agreed to go into The Priory in the New Year. Winehouse's management and label will be especially keen to see the singer get treatment for her drug addiction after another reportedly shambolic gig on Saturday night at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. While Winehouse is yet to reach Pete Doherty levels of delivering predominantly shambolic live performances, she is likely to suffer a bigger backlash from fans as she has a more mainstream fanbase and is playing bigger venues than Babyshambles were when Doherty was at his most erratic.
What effect these other new claims will have on Winehouse's fanbase is another matter entirely, though we should add that this story is based on the most circumstantial of evidence. The tabs are reporting that Winehouse was responsible for the death of a hamster belonging to Peter Pepper of up and coming band Palladium. Pepper recalls a house party at which his friend Winehouse was present, telling the tabs: "I'd been to bed, but Amy had stayed up and was still going strong and had drunk the drinks cabinet dry. The next thing I know, [the hamster] bites me, runs off and Amy says she'll catch it... But I went to put a plaster on my finger and by the time I came back, Amy said she's put it to bed and it was sleeping. But just hours later the hamster was stone cold and hard. I don't know what she did to it..." Asked if he had even taken Amy to task over the incident, he continued: "I've never directly accused her of killing my hamster as I'm too scared. She can be quite fierce".