Winehouse's Hubby Gets 27 Months

Singer Amy Winehouse's husband has been sentenced to 27 months in jail for trial-fixing and beating up a former pub landlord.

Amy, who had seemed convinced that Blake would walk free today, did not show up in court to find out what his punishment would be.

Blake Fielder-Civil, 26, had admitted to charges of grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice in a $400,000 trial-fixing plot aimed at trying to save him from jail.

Today in a London courtroom, Fielder-Civils's lawyers had asked Judge David Radford to give him community service, rather than jail time.

But Judge Radford refused, telling Amy's husband of 14 months that he had behaved in a "gratuitous, cowardly and disgraceful way," according to court reports.

Because Blake has already been inside for around nine months waiting for the case to go through the courts, he could be out before the end of the year if he bahaves in jail.

Fielder-Civil and pal Michael Brown had beaten James King, 36, so badly in June 2006 that he needed plates fitted into his face for a broken cheekbone.

Fielder-Civil and Brown were charged with grievous bodily harm but a trial-fixing plot had been hatched to try to save the pair from jail.

It was claimed Mr King, the victim and key witness, was to receive a $400,000 pay-off to withdraw his statement and disappear abroad during the GBH trial so Fielder-Civil and Brown would walk free.

They used Anthony Kelly and James Kennedy who had expected $40,000 for acting as middlemen and brokering the deal.

But the story was exposed when, unknown to Mr King, Kelly and James Kennedy went to London's Daily Mirror newspaper trying to sell closed-circuit TV camera images of the original attack.

Kelly, 25, and Kennedy, 19, who both admitted perverting the course of justice last year, are also due to be sentenced.

Mr King was unanimously cleared by a jury last month of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Amy Winehouse had been telling friends and audiences for weeks that Blake would be out of jail today.

Her pals had been trying to prepare her for the worst, and have feared that she would spiral even further out of control if Blake was given jail time.