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Tearful Amy Winehouse faces police probe over 'crack smoking' video
Last updated at 00:58am on 24.01.08Amy Winehouse is facing a police probe following the emergence of a shocking video that showed the star apparently smoking crack cocaine.
Police are examining the tape, after the tearful singer resurfaced yesterday to visit a rehab clinic.
The visit comes as the Metropolitan Police confirmed it would investigate the claims that she was smoking crack cocaine, taking other drugs such as Ecstasy and cocaine, and admitting downing six Valium on video.
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Tearful: A tearful Amy Winehouse, seen here last night in North-West London, faces a police probe after being caught on camera apparently taking drugs
A copy of the film was handed over at the request of the Metropolitan Police. The film was passed to Tower Hamlets detectives who are now analysing it.
Amy's heartbroken father said the footage obtained of his daughter smoking crack may prove to be the wake-up call her family has longed for.
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Reluctant: Amy Winehouse is dragged off to a rehab appointment yesterday
The 24-year-old's father Mitch said: "Your video of Amy taking drugs may well be the best thing that has ever happened to her.
"It's nothing short of devastating - thinking she wants to destroy herself.
"For all the hurt and pain, it may finally be the thing to focus her mind and convince her to get the help she needs to quit for good."
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Troubled: Amy with father Mitch seen leaving the Edward House private rehabilitation in North-West London yesterday
Amy's mother Janis reportedly broke down when she saw the newspaper report on the singer yesterday. She said: "I don't want to know about it - I can't look."
Shamefaced Amy emerged from her East London home in a blacked-out Mercedes limousine to travel to the clinic.
She appeared to have made a hasty attempt to change her dishevelled appearance by ridding herself of a shock of blonde hair and reverting to the usual sleek black beehive and heavy make-up.
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Jeopardy: The footage has also raised a question mark over her recording contract and her appearance at the Grammy Awards in the US
Winehouse's spokesman told reporters the appointment at the clinic was a regular weekly session which formed part of her continuing treatment for drug addiction.
With her father Mitch, the 24-year-old arrived at Edward House private rehabilitation clinic in North-West London at 4.45pm, staying for just over two hours.
Mitch said that until Friday's "relapse", Amy had been slowly beating her deadly habit on a drug treatment programme.
He added: "The painful thing is how well she's been doing in the past few weeks.
"Amy has some of the best doctors in the world looking after her. I know they'd be pleased with her progress. But in light of this, we may have to ramp up that support. Amy is very sick."
Yesterday morning, a 19-minute video said to be of the singer taking a potentially deadly cocktail of crack cocaine, Ecstasy and Valium was made public on The Sun's website.
Now that footage of her apparently taking the class A drug is being investigated by police and has cast serious doubt on whether she will be allowed to fly to the U.S. next month for the Grammy awards.
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Miss Winehouse, sporting a newly Back to Black hairstyle, clutches an emotional letter to her husband Blake
Love note: Part of the letter, scribbled in large, childlike writing, can be clearly seen
The images have also raised a question mark over her recording contract.
Her record company refused to say whether her multi-million-pound deal was in jeopardy but there were fears the footage of the singer smoking in a darkened room could be a step too far for her young fans.
And the footage was said by friends to have plunged Miss Winehouse's family into further despair after their failed attempts to persuade her to have treatment in rehab.
Mr Winehouse and his former wife Janis had hoped their daughter would be driven to get help for herself after seeing her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, imprisoned while awaiting trial.
Instead, she has been on a crash course to disaster, surrounding herself with the likes of Pete Doherty and behaving erratically in the streets around her home in the early hours.
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The singer was seen alongside father Mitch with a long handwritten letter in the back of her car
Visit: The singer's father arrives at her flat in Bow, East London, yesterday afternoon
The film of her apparent drug-taking shows her lighting a glass pipe and inhaling deeply.
She allegedly snorted powdered Ecstasy and cocaine and admitted taking six Valium to "bring myself down".
Dressed in a dirty vest, she was filmed stumbling barefoot around her flat, surrounded by other addicts and with a floor covered in broken glass.
Friends insisted she was the victim of a set-up. One said: "She is a recovering addict and if someone waves temptation in her face, she is not yet strong enough to say no.
"She is really angry about all of this and feels she's been set up.
She's determined to get herself back on track."
That seemed to be echoed by a note Miss Winehouse was clutching in the limousine yesterday.
Apparently for her husband, it read in part: "...because I f****** believe in us.
"We will get through this and our kiss will taste all the sweeter for time served, Mr Civil."
During the day, Miss Winehouse was locked in crisis talks with her father Mitch at her home.
The 57-year-old cab driver said: " All the pictures show is what everyone knew anyway.
"I am worried about her but this does not show anything we were not already aware of. We already know what her problems are."
Her heavy drug-taking echoes the days before her overdose in August last year, when a three-day binge of ketamin and cocaine ended with her collapsing and being taken to hospital.
The footage could see her banned from entering the US, where she is up for six awards in the Grammys next month.
A US embassy spokesman added: "Anyone abusing drugs or alcohol could be found ineligible for a visa."
Miss Winehouse has already once been turned down for a US visa after being arrested in Norway last year for possession of marijuana.
She was due to be interviewed by US consular officers in the next fortnight after reapplying for the paperwork - but insiders warned they are likely to take a dim view of her drug abuse.
A source said: "While it does not immediately mean a refusal, it is one of the issues they go into when processing visa applications and she will be treated just like anyone else."
In a year in which she collapsed of an overdose and cancelled her UK tour midway through, her album Back To Black was named the bestselling of the year and won her a clutch of awards.
The farce which followed a drugs investigation into Kate Moss was being blamed for Met officers' hesitation in launching an immediate police probe into Miss Winehouse last night.
Two years ago, the supermodel was filmed apparently snorting cocaine - but a £250,000 inquiry which involved detectives flying to the US to interview witnesses collapsed without charge.
Police could not prove which drug was involved so Moss escaped through a legal loophole.
The failed case sparked angry condemnation from politicians and drug campaigners, who warned it sent out the wrong message to young people.
Miss Winehouse yesterday insisted she will be fit to perform her single You Know I'm No Good at the NRJ music awards in Cannes this weekend, where she has been shortlisted for best international album.
Her spokesman admitted the footage made "appalling" viewing but said: "She has decided she still wants to go to France and the show will go on."
Miss Winehouse's mother-in-law Georgette Civil, 42 - whose son is on remand on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice - said: "I know Amy is still hooked on drugs.
"That is her problem. Her friends are a bad influence on her and she is a bad influence on my son.
"I would love them to get a divorce for their own good. Their marriage is doomed. I think she will be his downfall."
Miss Winehouse has made three failed visits to rehab in the past year.
She made the first visit to the Causeway Clinic in Essex in August 2007 with husband Blake but the pair discharged themselves after a few days.
She then checked in just weeks later after publicly overdosing on a cocktail of drink and drugs.
She spent two days at the same addiction centre - which costs £10,000 a week - before storming out and vowing never to return.
In November last year, Winehouse pulled out of a concert in Bournemouth promising to seek help for drug addiction after being jeered off stage by fans.
She was seen by doctors at the London Clinic in Harley Street before being admitted back into the Causeway Clinic.
Reader views (13)
The one thing I don't think anyone has ever accused Amy Winehouse of being is a role model. Others may not like it but it's her life, her money, her health, her choice and quite possibly the more papers harrass her about it the more it will continue. Sad but true.
- Louise, Essex
I'm in agreement with Paul. A crack addict she maybe, but she's doing it in her own home, using her own money to buy it. She's not mugging any of us, or robbing us so leave her to it. She's well aware of the consequences of taking drugs - if it is her wish to self destruct then so be it. If it's her wish to seek help she will do so and I'm sure she'll be paying the bill for the clinic (Priory or otherwise) out of her own pocket. So why should any of us be chastising her? We should be chastising the press for continually giving her drug habit column inches!
- Daizy, N England
I say if she wants to live her life this way, so be it. However, I don't want to read about every drug session she has!
If she wants to end up face down in the gutter then just let her get on with it.
- Scott, London
Rock on, Amy (pun intended)! Her business is her business.
- Will Oliver, Winnipeg, Canada
"For ending see Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix, Jones etc."
Erm, but they were talented weren't they?
- A Punk, London
I'm with you Paul, Amy is a singer not public property and someone needs to do something about the press intruding into her private life as this kind of persecution will only make her feel worse about herself, and exacerbate the situation.
Everyone whines on about being sick of hearing all this stuff about Amy but I'm sure she'd much rather be left alone to lick her wounds and sort herself out.
Please take time out and look after yourself Amy, before it's too late!
- Wendy K, London
Pingu, it is not so much her being a bad role model it is the press forever putting it in the papers. What she does in her own home is her own business. Well that's what people say about anything else.
- Peter Sparkling, London, UK
It's obviously one rule for the rest of us and one rule for the famous. If anyone else was caught doing this the police would have arrested them by now. I do think she is talented, however, she is also famous and therefore has to set an example. Unfortunately, the only example she is currently setting is not a good one.
- Jk, London
Pingu - you're talking nonsense. How can you strip her of her awards? There's many artists who have been associated with drugs who have won a boatful of awards.
She should however seek help - she's a terrific talent that requires serious assistance.
- Leigh, London, UK
What kind of "friends" is Amy surrounded by? Rather than help her they video her? And then sell it on for a quick buck presumably to feed their own habit. This woman needs proper understanding and help with her addictions, not a so called "pal" selling pictures to the highest bidder.
- Helen, London
For ending see Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix, Jones etc.
Unless she gets help now.
- Matt, Richmond
Isn't this an intrusion into someone else's private life. Amy Winehouse is an adult with no children and in the confines of her own home can do whatever she likes to herself, however destructive or sordid you might think it is....
Just because she sings a few great songs doesn't give you or I any ownership of her or investment in her talent and this is frankly none of our business.
Pingu - perhaps you can show us where she signed the contract that stated she was a role model to young kids? That she should be stripped of awards suggests she is some sort of athlete. There is no drug testing in music and she is not a role model to young kids. Or did I miss the sudden fashion for tattoos and beehive haircuts amongst 8 year olds?
- Paul, London
Amy Winehouse is a great singer and artist, there is no denying. But she should be stripped of any awards or nominations when she is seen taking hard drugs not once but several times. What sort of role model does she make for young kids who look up to her. Record producers should act with their power to take away her awards, nominations and record contracts.
- Pingu, London
