Singer absent from 'plot' meeting

The court heard the singer went to Germany for an MTV awards ceremony

Singer Amy Winehouse pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in a �200,000 bribe plot connected with her husband's assault trial, jurors heard.

The meeting, due to take place last October, never happened because the singer attended an awards ceremony.

Blake Fielder-Civil, 26, of Camden, north London, has already pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.

The plot was exposed by the Daily Mirror, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Fielder-Civil and Michael Brown, 25, from Carshalton, Surrey have admitted attacking pub landlord James King, 36, in a pub in Hoxton, east London, in June 2006 and perverting the course of justice.

King, whose cheek was fractured, is accused of being a part of a plot which would have seen him paid �200,000 for fleeing the country to avoid testifying against Brown and Fielder-Civil.

'Throw the case'

Unknown to the Grammy award-winning singer and her husband, a meeting about King's alleged deal to "throw the case", between the couple, Brown, and two middle men, Anthony Kelly and James Kennedy, would have been taped by the Daily Mirror, the court heard.

But after several hours of waiting, the meeting never took place.

Daily Mirror journalist Stephen Moyes told the jury: "At that stage we were told that Amy and Blake were going to Munich for an MTV awards show."

Mr Moyes was investigating claims by Kelly and Kennedy that King was being paid to skip the court appearance.

The court heard that Brown had an unspecified "grievance" towards Mr King, and that he previously dated one of Mr King's friends. .

Mr King, 36, of Risley, Derbyshire, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Kelly, 25, from Chalk Farm, north London, and Kennedy, 19, from Hackfield, Hertfordshire, have both pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

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