Amy Winehouse's father hopeful of opening rehab centre in daughter's memory

Amy Winehouse's father plans to set up a drug rehabilitation centre in the dead singer's name.

Mitch Winehouse will meet a Home Office minister today to ask for support for a centre for young people.

He will discuss plans to address a gap in treatment services and drugs policy with Crime Minister James Brokenshire and Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Mr Winehouse will be joined by his late daughter's managers, Raye Cosbert and Trenton Harrison-Lewis, and Sarah Graham, a former cocaine abuser and addiction expert.

Ms Graham said: "We didn't know it (Ms Winehouse's death) was going to happen but we hope it will show people that addiction is something that can kill people when they are very young and that we should not wait until it is too late."

Ms Graham said most treatment is mainly accessed within the community but this could be problematic for some people.

"Rehabilitation is more expensive than treatment in the community but in reality most desperate young people cannot access it," she said.

"It might be because their dealer meets them at the school gates or it could be that they are getting abused at home."

Mr Winehouse revealed shortly after his daughter's death that he wanted to do something for addicts who could not afford private treatment.

He met Ms Graham in October 2009 when the pair addressed the Home Affairs Select Committee on drug abuse.

"As a rich country we should be able to afford a rehabilitation centre for young people and we don't think charities should pay for it totally," said Ms Graham.

Britain's only NHS rehabilitation centre for young people - Middlegate in Nettleton, Lincolnshire - closed last year, she said.

Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead at her flat in north London on July 23.

Her multiple Grammy award-winning album Back To Black topped the UK album charts last night and five of her singles are in the top 40, including the single Back To Black at number eight.

The singer's family are currently awaiting the results of toxicology tests to establish the cause of her death.