Amy Winehouse’s father in legal dispute

Since the tragic death of the troubled soul artist on July 23 people have been shamelessly scrambling to make money out of the late singers name.

Distraught father Mitch Winehouse was intending to establish a charity in his daughters name to help drug addicts begin a new life free of substance. Just hours after Mr Winehouse announced his plans, his intended website address www.amywinehousefoundation.com was purchased by Martin McCann from Uxbridge. He purchased the website from Companies House on August 2 for a modest £160.

Only moments after Mitch announced his plans for the charity, he was bombarded with donations from grieving fans, eager to help with his cause. Unfortunately he had to return donations when he was unable to set up a bank account in his planned name.

Mitch is inevitably furious at the blatant exploitation of his daughter’s death and has opened a legal case to fight the poached domain.

He said on Twitter: ‘We all have to bombard the tabloids websites to put pressure on this d***head who stole our foundation name. Instead of concentrating on allocating funding I am having to send cheques back cause we haven’t got a bank account in that name.”

Mr McCann remained shameless and continues to defend his actions, saying to reporters: “I’m not exploiting anything yet. I’ve just bought some domain names. Anybody could have. It only takes the click of a mouse. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed. Detach yourself from emotions and think business.”

As someone in the media industry I can admit that I understand the business element, but McCann took it further by insulting Mitch, saying: “He is making every effort to hijck this charity to satiate his own needs for the charity. She’s not the only Amy Winehouse in the world. I’m not the d***head. The d***head is sitting over there without the name in his possession.”

Ouch, that isn’t fair. And lets be honest, how many Amy Winehouse’s do we know?

He cheekily added that he would be happy to come to some sort of arrangement with Mitch – but only if he apologises for insulting him on Twitter.

Mitch rightfully ignored this offer and claimed he would fight to regain the domain. It was clear that it was always his intention to open a charity in his daughters name and he is sticking to his guns, ignoring suggestions that he uses some of Amy’s famous lyrics for the charity’s name instead.

At his daughters funeral, he said: “I was with my cousin Michael when I heard and straight away I said I wanted an Amy Winehouse Foundation, something to help the things she loved – children, horses, but also to help those struggling with substance abuse. In this country, if you cannot afford a private rehabilitation clinic, there is a two-year waiting list for help. With the help of Keith Vaz MP, we are trying to change that.”

Mitch clearly has some good lawyers, as he tweeted last night: “It seems we have got our foundation back. I will update you all tomorrow. Very positive. Mitch.”

It has been a month since the singer’s passing and toxicology results have shown that there were no drugs in her body at the time, although alcohol traces were present. The cause of her death still remains unknown.