Amy Winehouse Inquest to Be Reopened Due to Unqualified Coroner

LONDON (AP) - The inquest into the death of soul singer Amy Winehouse was overseen by a coroner who lacked the proper qualifications and must be heard again next month, officials said Monday.

Assistant deputy coroner Suzanne Greenaway, who handled the inquest, resigned in November 2011 after her qualifications were questioned.

Camden Council said a new hearing has been scheduled on Jan. 8.

"The inquest into the death of Amy Winehouse had not technically been heard," it said in a statement.

Winehouse was found dead in her London home in July 2011 at age 27. In an inquest in October 2011, Greenaway ruled that the "Back to Black" singer had died of accidental alcohol poisoning.

Greenaway had been appointed an assistant deputy coroner in London in 2009 by her husband, Andrew Reid, the coroner for inner north London. But she resigned after authorities learned she had not been a registered U.K. lawyer for five years as required by the rules.

She had practiced law for a decade in her native Australia.

Reid was suspended, and he resigned earlier this month.

Winehouse family spokesman Chris Goodman said Monday that the singer's family had not requested a new hearing.

Last year's inquest heard evidence from a pathologist, Winehouse's doctor, the security guard who found her and a detective who described seeing three empty vodka bottles in her bedroom. It appears unlikely that a second inquest would produce a different conclusion about how she died.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.