Cyber squatter foiling Winehouse charity plan

Amy Winehouse's father Mitch said his plans to set up a charity in his late daughter's name had been frustrated by a cyber squatter who had stolen the organization's intended address on the internet.

Mitch, a former taxi driver who launched his own musical career on the back of Amy Winehouse's success, plans to set up a foundation to help young people suffering from substance abuse, and has already received donations from the public.

Winehouse, a chart-topping singer whose album Back to Black helped her win five Grammy awards and international fame, was found dead in her London home on July 23 aged 27. She had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Instead of concentrating on allocating funding, I am having to send cheques back cos (because) we don't haven't got bank ac (account) in that name, Mitch Winehouse wrote on micro blogging site Twitter.

We all have to bombard the tabloids websites to put pressure on this dick head who stole our foundation name.

Our solicitors are all over this, but it takes time. Meanwhile we can't get on with foundation.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the internet address Amywinehousefoundation.org.uk was registered to a sghuk who bought it on August 16.

Amywinehousefoundation.com had also been purchased, and amywinehousefoundation.org was registered by someone on July 31 2011.

According to Mitch Winehouse, one of the cyber squatters thwarting his plans allegedly contacted his daughter's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

Fielder-Civil and Winehouse were married between 2007 and 2009, but their families bickered publicly about the influence the couple had over each other during a tumultuous relationship.

Fielder-Civil was jailed in 2008 after pleading guilty to attacking a pub landlord and then trying to cover it up.

Since his daughter's death, Mitch Winehouse has urged politicians to do more to help young people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)