May 08, 2008

Amy Winehouse Arrested Over Alleged Drug Offenses

By Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

For the second time in as many weeks, Amy Winehouse has been arrested by British police. Last month, the singer got off with a caution for slapping a man in a bar, and on Wednesday (May 7), she turned herself in again to face questioning over a widely circulated video that appears to show her smoking drugs.

"Amy Winehouse voluntarily attended a London police station today by appointment," a statement from Winehouse's spokeperson explained. "She was arrested in order to be interviewed and is co-operating fully with enquiries. The interview relates to a video handed to police earlier this year."

In the video, which was forwarded to police by the English tabloid newspaper The Sun earlier this year, the troubled Grammy winner looks like she is inhaling crack from a glass pipe. TMZ.com reported that Winehouse was arrested after the scheduled meeting for alleged possession of a controlled drug.

"Around 1 p.m. today a 24-year-old woman from the Camden area attended a London police station by arrangement and was arrested in connection with the alleged possession of a controlled drug," a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said, according to BBC News. "She remains in custody."

Winehouse's spokesperson confirmed for MTV News at 2:30 p.m. ET that the singer was still in police custody.

The British press has also reported that Peaches Geldof, the 19-year-old daughter of Live Aid co-founder Sir Bob Geldof, is scheduled to be interviewed by police later this week about footage of her handing money to a man as part of a suspected drug deal. The footage was reportedly seized from the same man who is thought to be behind the video that led to Winehouse's arrest.

In addition to the caution over the slapping incident, which required Winehouse to be held overnight in jail because a doctor reportedly found her "unfit for interview" at the time of her arrest, the singer was reportedly forced to give up on her quest to record a track for the upcoming James Bond movie. Producer Mark Ronson told The Associated Press that she was "not ready" to record any music at this time. Winehouse's label rejected those comments, saying the collaborators merely had artistic differences over the direction of the song.

Regardless, between a recent trip to a rehabilitation facility and her frequent run-ins with the law, the singer's ongoing struggles have prevented her from working in earnest on the follow-up to her 2006 breakthrough album, Back to Black. Though Winehouse's spokesperson said the singer has been in the studio working on new material, there is currently no timetable for its release.