Dad calls for Amy Winehouse to be sectioned

Docs in crisis meeting will decide future

EXCLUSIVE By Phil Taylor

THE distraught father of junkie singer Amy Winehouse has revealed he wants her forcibly locked up in a mental hospital for her own good.

Mitch Winehouse is convinced it is the only way to save his daughter from killing herself with drugs.

In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, he said: "I want her sectioned. The situation is getting out of control. I want her off the street."

READ: Amy denies divorce rumours

Dismissing another stint in rehab, Mitch said: "I don't think being somewhere for six weeks is going to cure her problems.

"I think it needs far more radical measures. We will take the bull by the horns and deal with it."

Taxi driver Mitch is cutting short a holiday in Tenerife to fly home for a Council of War with the 24-year-old singer's team, family and medical professionals tomorrow.

Mitch, 57, revealed: "I've been on the phone to Amy's manager in Los Angeles and he's starting things rolling. They are going to be speaking to doctors, psychologists and everything else.

Danger

"I want Amy to be somewhere where she will be safe and where no harm can come to her.

"Obviously as her dad I will try and do what's best for her.

"Unfortunately, what I think is best for Amy and what she thinks is best for her are two different things.

"And it might be that other parties might need to be involved.

"You need all four—the psychologists, the doctor, the local health authority and the next of kin—all to decide that somebody is sectionable.

"Now is the time to exert whatever pressure we have to try to do it.

"I've told them she is a danger to herself. There is evidence of self-harming and she's a danger to other people because she's attacked someone."

Click for pics of Amy Winehouse

Amy left Holborn police station in central London yesterday morning after spending a night in cells before being cautioned for common assault.

Her latest troubles began on Tuesday night after she arrived at a pub in Camden, north London, with pals including Babyshambles star Mik Whitnall following a booze-up at her flat nearby. Once inside she is said to have hit Moroccan musician Mustapha el Mounmi after he refused to give way to her at the pool table.

Mustapha, 27, had a bruised eye and swollen lip. He said: "I feel so angry. She smashed my face hard."

After playing pool, Amy returned to her flat but emerged to visit the nearby Bar Tok at 2am on Wednesday. The frail-looking star left at 2.45am and allegedly head-butted a good samaritan trying to hail her a cab because she thought he was trying to molest her. Breaking his silence about her arrest, sad Mitch sighed: "I have spoken to her about that and she told me the situation got completely out of hand. Clearly this can't continue."

The trouble did not stop there. At the end of the evening wild-eyed Amy promised a cabbie £40 to take her home. She persuaded him to stop on the way so she could buy newspapers but staggered into a lamp-post, nearly smashing her head.

When she got home she angered the driver by paying only £20.

And on Friday morning Amy celebrated a report that she was worth £10million by getting thrown out of a London bar for allegedly taking drugs in the lavatory.

Shaken Mitch went on: "One of the reasons I came to Tenerife was to get away from it all.

"If I was in England, I'd be around there and try to impress upon her the foolishness of her ways.

"During the week I nearly came home from Tenerife because she phoned me and said ‘I really miss you' and started crying. I got my sister to go and see her. She has clearly been through a very traumatic week.

"I don't feel Amy is beyond help. But unless she wants it, you can't force her to do anything against her will."

Click here for Amy video

Mitch added: "Some of the things that Amy has articulated over the last weeks were that she wanted help. That's the first time she has spoken about it.

Suicidal

"But wanting it and actually doing it are two different things."

Mitch stressed the difficulty he faces in getting Amy sectioned to save her from drugs.

He said: "Unless somebody is suicidal or they are a danger to other people—for example walking around the streets threatening to kill people—no one is going to section them.

"And even then, after 36 hours, if somebody shows any sign of improvement they can be let back into the community." Mitch believes Amy's caution for assault may increase the chances of getting her sectioned.

"That is one of the tacks I will take," he said. "I'm going to speak to our lawyers. I'm going to speak to the doctor and then we will see what happens.

"Ultimately it's the doctors who will decide if anybody is sectionable."

Boxing hero Frank Bruno was sectioned in 2003 under the Mental Health Act, but has since bounced back and has just opened a pioneering boxing academy at the Priory School in Orpington, which bears his name.

Mitch said: "It's good to hear there are some success stories."

Yesterday a spokesman for the singer said of her caution: "Amy Winehouse was questioned this morning at a London police station in connection to an incident in Camden in the early hours of April 23, 2008.

"She admitted to a common assault by slapping a man with an open hand and accepted a caution.

"Amy was fully co-operative with inquiries and apologised for the incident. She thanks the police for their professional handling of the matter. There will be no further action. Amy is looking forward to continuing her work on new music in the studio."

Amy failed to visit her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, for his 26th birthday last Wednesday.

And she did not attend when he appeared in court on Friday.

Clean

While her life has spun out of control, prison sources say Blake is now clean of drugs and busy writing a book on his life with Amy.

It was reported that he and Amy were planning to publish a joint effort.

But Blake, who was devastated Amy did not visit him, now hopes to cash in alone. His mother Georgette said: "She's made a complete fool of herself and I hope my son divorces her."

Amy and Alex

AMY'S dad angrily confirmed that she HAS been cheating on hubby Blake Fielder-Civil with her manager's assistant, Alex Haynes.

Mitch, who asked geeky Alex to look after Amy, said: "It's unbelievable. He's tall, but he's like a little boy.

"I am shocked. His job was to look after Amy. I asked him to stay with Amy while she was recording at Henley. This was not part of the job! I don't like infidelity. But Alex could be the victim in all this.

"I can't ever imagine Alex seducing Amy. He looks like Clark Kent.

"It was clearly the other way round and Amy had her wicked way with him. But I would never dream of putting those two together."

A friend of 24-year-old Alex revealed he confessed to his fling with Amy in a phone call to his boss Raye Cosbert in Los Angeles.

The pal said: "Alex was far from happy that the news of his affair had come out. I think he was feeling very sheepish and guilty. His job was to make sure she was all right.

"No one suspected he was actually having a fling with her."