Winehouse back in the courthouse

LONDON – British singer Amy Winehouse yesterday admitted attacking a theatre manager at a Christmas pantomime.

The 26-year-old Grammy winner pleaded guilty to common assault and public order charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Court, according to the Press Association. Winehouse, pictured left arriving at court, assaulted 27-year-old theatre manager Richard Pound after disrupting a performance of ‘Cinderella’ at the Milton Keynes Theatre in England on December 19. The ‘Back to Black’ singer was arrested four days later. According to prosecuting lawyer Julian Vickery, Winehouse had been drinking before she arrived and raised her voice during the performance prompting a member of the audience to ask her to be quiet.After leaving her seat later in the evening, Winehouse asked Pound for a drink and swore when he declined.When he asked the singer to leave the building, she ‘felt embarrassed and patronised and, with no premeditation, grabbed his hair and pulled’, Vickery added.Winehouse was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay 85 pounds (US$140) in costs and 100 pounds in compensation to Pound.Passing sentence, district judge Peter Crabtree told Winehouse, who wore a short dark skirt, white shirt and her trademark beehive hairstyle: ‘It may be harder than a fine because you have now got to stay on the straight and narrow for the next two years.’Winehouse’s musical career has been overshadowed by a torrid personal life, which has made her a tabloid favourite, and regular brushes with the law. – Nampa-Reuters