A previously unseen Valentine’s card sent by Amy Winehouse to her then-husband Blake Fielder-Civil while he was in prison has sold at auction for £4,940 including fees. The sale highlights continued interest in Winehouse memorabilia and offers a personal glimpse into their troubled relationship, which influenced much of her music and later became central to portrayals of her life.

Winehouse sent the card from Saint Lucia in February 2009 to Fielder-Civil at HMP Edmund’s Hill in Suffolk, while divorce proceedings were under way. Auctioneers had estimated it at £2,000–£4,000; it was sold framed with a photograph of the singer. Fielder-Civil, whom Winehouse married in 2007 and later divorced in 2009, had been imprisoned over an assault and has said he introduced her to heroin; Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in 2011 aged 27.