AMY Winehouse’s brother has said their father selling the singer’s belongings may have been in “bad taste”.
Alex Winehouse also said dad Mitch was “less than candid” about the memorabilia auction at the centre of a High Court legal battle.
He tried to stop the sales in 2021 and 2023 but Mitch reassured him in an email by explaining that only four or five items were up for sale.
In the end, more than 650 items were sold by Amy’s estate.
Asked yesterday if his dad had been “less than candid”, Alex, 46, told the High Court in London: “Yes, I suppose he is saying one thing and doing another.
“But ultimately, it’s his stuff. He owns that stuff with my mother.
“If they want to sell it they can. There’s nothing I can do.”
Mitch, 75, alleges two of Amy’s closest friends “deliberately concealed” they were selling around 155 items as part of the auctions.
He claims stylist Naomi Parry and former flatmate Catriona Gourlay had no right to flog them and is suing them for about £730,000.
Both defendants claim the items belonged to them and were either loaned by Amy or gifted by her.
Ex-cabbie Mitch was “very disappointed” after realising all the proceeds were not going to the estate and the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
Designer outfits and other mementoes were put on exhibition before being sold in the US following the Back to Black singer’s death aged 27 in 2011.
They included the bloodied ballet pumps worn during a fight with then-husband Blake Fielder-Civil and a birthday card from Adele and Mark Ronson.
The priciest item was sold by Ms Parry for £182,000 — a bamboo-style halter dress worn during Amy’s final performance in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2011.
Mitch’s ex-wife Jane, the managing trustee and director of the Amy Winehouse Foundation, saved more personal mementoes from being sold.
They included bras, self-help books, VHS cassette tapes and handwritten reflections.
Mrs Winehouse said she contacted her daughter’s pals to warn them personal items were mistakenly going to auction.
Ms Parry later admitted they were “parting with a few things” as part of the Property from the Life and Career of Amy Winehouse sale by Julien’s Auctions.
During her evidence, Ms Parry also questioned Mitch’s memory about who owned what.
She said: “Mitch had got confused and thought he owned a dress that belonged to me.
“His mind changes. He remembers things and then forgets them. I don’t know what he was thinking before the auction.”
The court heard statements from celebrities including Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter Kelly and actress Sadie Frost that confirmed Amy had given clothes to Ms Gourlay and Ms Parry.
Trial continues.
