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Amy's husband gets 27 months as judge rejects his drug pledge
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent21 Jul 2008
Amy Winehouse's husband was jailed for 27 months this afternoon for trying to cover up his "gratuitous, cowardly and disgusting" violence.
Judge David Radford rejected Blake Fielder-Civil's plea to be allowed to go free to help the singer give up drugs.
The defendant's mother Georgette wept as the 26-year-old was led to the cells. She had pledged to look after him on his release from prison and blames Winehouse, 24, for his heroin and cocaine addiction.
Earlier, Fielder-Civil's barrister told the court how the couple were determined to fight together their addiction to the "smiling assassin" of drugs.
Fielder-Civil, of Camden, had admitted beating up pub landlord James King in June 2006 and, with three others, to attempting to use his wife's wealth to try to bribe the victim into withdrawing his evidence so the case would collapse.
The judge at Snaresbrook crown court said he accepted the defendant had been affected by drink and cocaine and took part in the attack "in a mistaken sense of loyalty" to a friend, Michael Brown.
Mr King was left with a shattered cheekbone after being beaten to the ground by Brown and kicked by Fielder-Civil in a row over a girlfriend. The judge said: "By joining in the attack and kicking out at Mr King... you behaved in a gratuitous, cowardly and disgusting way. It would have been little comfort to your victim that you did so because of your condition."
After the attack, Mr King was offered up to £200,000 and a promise of a holiday in Spain to withdraw his evidence.
The judge said he had considered Fielder-Civil's attempts to clean himself up and his love and devotion to his wife and determination that they should both give up drugs together. But he had concluded a custodial sentence was necessary.
Brown, 40, of Carshalton, who had also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and attempting to pervert the course of justice, was sentenced to 33 months. Anthony Kelly, 26, of Chalk Farm, and James Kennedy, 20, of Hatfield, had admitted perverting the course of justice. Kelly was sentenced to 20 months in prison and Kennedy to 40 weeks at a young offender institute suspended and 120 hours' community service.
Winehouse was not in court.
