Husband of Winehouse pleads guilty

LONDON (Reuters) - The husband of troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse has admitted to assaulting a pub landlord before attempting to cover it up, court officials said on Monday.

Blake Fielder-Civil, 26, admitted committing grievous bodily harm and conspiring to pervert the course of justice, charges which relate to a pub brawl in 2006.

Winehouse, who picked up five Grammy awards in February, made several visits to her husband in jail and has referred to the case at recent concerts.

The guilty pleas could be reported after judge David Radford lifted reporting restrictions on the case, an official at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London, said.

Winehouse, 24, and Fielder-Civil, both from north London, married in May, 2007, in Miami, and in the following months were followed by paparazzi and appeared regularly in Britain's celebrity-hungry tabloid newspapers.

Fielder-Civil, a one-time music video assistant, has spent much of his first year of marriage behind bars, having been remanded in custody ahead of the trial.

It had been due to take place late last year but was postponed until this month for legal reasons.

Winehouse appeared in court last week to support Fielder-Civil during lengthy pre-trial hearings.

Critics attending some of her recent performances have said the singer, who has been battling drug addiction and checked into a rehabilitation clinic in January, appeared to be deeply disturbed by the case.

Three of Fielder-Civil's co-defendants in the case also pleaded guilty to charges related to the crime, and the pub landlord, James King, alone faces trial on the charge of perverting the course of justice after pleading not guilty.

The group will be sentenced on a date to be set.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White and Andrew Hough)