Winehouse acquitted of assault charge

LONDON, July 24 (UPI) -- British soul singer Amy Winehouse said she is relieved she was acquitted of an assault charge Friday.

Dancer Sherene Flash claims the troubled recording artist punched her in the eye at a charity ball last September when she attempted to bring a drunken friend into a photo she was having taken with Winehouse.

However, Winehouse denied assaulting Flash, insisted the woman and her friend scared her and said she was only trying to shoo them away.

The BBC quoted London's District Judge Timothy Workman as saying he found Winehouse not guilty of assault in the incident because most of the witnesses to it were drunk at the time and because medical evidence presented by prosecutors didn't suggest "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."

"I'm relieved. I'm going home," Winehouse told reporters as she left the court Friday.

"She has always maintained her innocence and is very happy to move on with her life and put the episode behind her," the singer's publicist told the BBC.