The English taxi driver is seeking nearly $1 million in damages

Mitch Winehouse and Amy Winehouse.Credit : JMEnternational/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch Winehouse is suing two of the late singer’s friends over his late daughter’s clothing being sold at auction
The English taxi driver alleges that Catriona Gourlay and Naomi Parry personally profited from items sold at auction
Mitch is seeking nearly $1 million in damages, per documents obtained by PEOPLE

Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch Winehouse is suing two of the late singer’s friends.

The English taxi driver, who is the administrator of his daughter’s estate, filed a law suit claiming that two of Amy’s close friends, Catriona Gourlay and Naomi Parry, profited from selling her clothing items at auctions in the United States in both 2021 and 2023. Parry also worked with Amy as her stylist.

Amy died at the age of 27 on July 23, 2011. Her official cause of death was “alcohol toxicity.”

In documents obtained by PEOPLE, Mitch claims he was approached by Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions about putting together a sale of Amy’s items to benefit the Amy Winehouse Foundation, but Mitch declined this offer.

Per the documents, Parry spoke to Mitch “in or around 2018,” about the idea of an auction and put him in touch with Julien over email. Mitch eventually agreed with the “intention that a share of the proceeds would be donated to benefit the Foundation,” and the auction took place on Nov. 6 and 7, 2021.

Mitch Winehouse and Amy Winehouse.Fred Duval/FilmMagic

The suit then claims that following the auction, Julien informed Mitch that multiple items had been sold under Parry and Gourlay’s names. Both defendants allegedly claim that the items “were gifted to them by Amy during her lifetime.”

Mitch claims that Parry and Gourlay sold more of Amy’s items, some of which that had failed to sell at the 2021 auction, in another sale hosted by Julien’s Auctions on May 19 and 21, 2023.

PEOPLE reached out to Julien’s Auctions, but the organization declined to comment until after the trial. A spokesperson from the High Court told PEOPLE that the trial is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, Dec. 11.

Mitch is seeking over $975,000 in damages.

Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay.Amanda Edwards/Getty

In 2017, six years after the “Back to Black” singer’s death, Mitch told PEOPLE that he and her mom, Janice Winehouse-Collins, “think about her every day.”

“In fact, we think about her every minute of the day,” he said at the gala dinner of the Amy Winehouse Foundation at the Dorchester Hotel.

“I don’t know why but this year her birthday hit me very hard,” Mitch continued about what would have been the singer’s 34th birthday, on Sept. 14. “I don’t know why but it was very tough.”

The Amy Winehouse Foundation seeks to educate young people about the harmful effects of following the singer’s path, and also provides music therapy for disabled, disadvantaged and terminally ill young people.

In October 2016, the Foundation went one step further and opened Amy’s Place in East London to help female addicts transition into post-rehab life.

“What’s lovely is that we are doing so much good for kids really because they’re the ones that need it,” Janice said at the time. “It is all positive.”