Amy Winehouse_ The Biography - Chas Newkey-Burden [49]
Later that day, Mitch arrived at the hotel and dined with Amy and Blake at one of the Sanderson’s posh, exclusive restaurants. He left the hotel around 10 p.m., leaving Amy and Blake seemingly in good spirits as they played pool with friends and continued to drink. Around 11 p.m., Amy met a mystery woman and seemed to take receipt of a package as the pair hugged. In the early hours of the morning, Amy and Blake returned to their hotel room. However, they were not about to retire quietly and the real drama of the evening was just about to start.
An argument broke out between the pair. It was a mighty, vicious, voluminous row that echoed and resounded around the hotel, disturbing other guests. A posh table in the hotel room was smashed during this row and, at about 3 a.m., there was such concern for Amy and so many complaints from other guests about the noise, that the hotel concierge called the police. Soon after this, Amy burst out of the room in floods of tears, with Blake in hot pursuit, screaming after her. They piled into a lift, in which another hotel guest was already travelling. The guest says, ‘She was cowering in the corner and I thought he was going to hit her. When the lift door opened, she took off across the lobby at a real pace. He was chasing after her and was about five paces behind by the time she got to the main hotel entrance.’
Amy sprinted down Berners Street and was clearly in a state of total panic. Blake was in hot pursuit still but could not catch up. An eyewitness says, ‘Amy was so hell-bent on getting away from him that she ran into the middle of the street and flagged down a random car that happened to be full of girls. She was saying, “Quickly, I have to get in, I have to get away, please help me.” Her voice was breaking. You could tell she was scared.’
Amy was allowed into the car, which set off at great speed, leaving Blake trailing in its wake. Amy was dropped off outside Charing Cross train station and she walked into a twenty-four-hour shop and bought some cigarettes. ‘She was looking completely out of her head,’ said a fellow shopper.
Meanwhile, Blake had been left behind and was staggering around in a total daze, trying to find Amy. He wandered around looking in doorways and down alleys. From time to time he shouted her name, but to no avail, of course. He also repeatedly tried to call her on her mobile phone. Eventually, he managed to get through to her by phone. A tense and loud conversation ensued. After the pair calmed down, they arranged to meet up at around 4 a.m. They then walked back to the hotel, arm in arm, at around 4.45 a.m.
However, any hope that they could put this latest drama behind them was vain indeed. The entire fight had been played out in front of not just the public, but also in front of press photographers who had snapped plenty of photographs of Amy and Blake. The two were covered in blood and scratches. Amy also had blood pouring through her silk ballet shoes, leading to speculation that she had been injecting heroin in between her toes. They talk about washing your dirty linen in public – this was more like washing your bloodstained linen in public.
Naturally, the press went immediately to town on the story. On hearing of the drama, Mitch rushed immediately to the hotel to be at his daughter’s side. So concerned was he for her wellbeing that he even investigated legal routes to get her and Blake apart.
‘Mitch is desperate for Amy to get some proper lengthy treatment but she’ll only do it with Blake. Mitch even looked to see if he could get a restraining order against him but it’s legally impossible,’ said a source. The police did, though, arrive and later announced, ‘After receiving a complaint from a third party, police spoke with a woman but she made no allegation of criminal offences.’ The room that Amy and Blake had been staying in was reportedly a mess. A source at the hotel said that the bedroom and bathroom had bloodstains in them. One – highly doubtful – report claimed that the damage