Winehouse's 'aunt' asks media to relent

A woman claiming to be Amy Winehouse's aunt has asked the media to back off and stop hounding the singer.

Identifying herself as Sue, the woman told BBC Radio 5 Live that Winehouse never wanted to be a role model and requested that her family be allowed to deal with their problems "quietly".

She said: "Please let her finish her rehabilitation - let her try to get off the stuff and then we'll have the Amy we all want.

"She didn't want to be an example - all she wants to be is a singer and a songwriter. There are thousands of families going through the same tragic situation as us all over England and they're allowed to get on with it quietly - and this is all we ask for Amy."

Sue added: "Amy has the press knocking on her door at two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning and some of the photos of Amy at her worst is when she's had no sleep and gone downstairs to say 'leave me alone, shut up, I want to go to sleep'."