A High Court judge in London has ordered Mitch Winehouse to pay £963,851 (approximately $1.3 million) to two of his late daughter's closest friends, after he lost a lawsuit claiming they had no right to auction her personal belongings.

Justice Sarah Clarke delivered the ruling on Wednesday, July 29, closing a case that began in 2023 when Mitch Winehouse, acting as administrator of Amy Winehouse's estate, sued Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay. The dispute centred on proceeds from two auctions held at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles in 2021 and 2023, where the friends sold items that had belonged to the singer, who died in 2011.

Parry sold 56 items for $878,000. Gourlay sold 85 items for $344,000. Among the lots was the dress Winehouse wore at her final concert in Serbia, which alone fetched $243,000 (Billboard).

Following a trial in April, Justice Clarke rejected Mitch Winehouse's entire case. She ruled that Amy Winehouse had either gifted or given the items to her friends, and that Mitch Winehouse himself knew this (Billboard).

The £963,851 he must now pay covers the legal costs Parry and Gourlay incurred defending themselves, according to TAG24. Mitch Winehouse's own legal costs amounted to at least £950,000, meaning the failed litigation has cost him close to £2 million in total (Sky News).

The case turned on a question familiar in estate disputes: who owns a possession once the person who owned it is gone? When an artist dies, the rights to their recordings, image and catalogue often pass to an estate or family member, but physical belongings — clothing, personal effects, gifts — can sit in a grey area if there is no will or inventory covering them. Justice Clarke's finding that Amy Winehouse had given the items to her friends during her lifetime placed them outside the estate's reach.

Mitch Winehouse has controlled Amy Winehouse's estate since her death, overseeing its posthumous releases and the Amy Winehouse Foundation. The estate has not publicly commented on whether further appeal is planned.