The devastated showbiz patriarch has thrown himself into work with the Amy Winehouse Foundation - which he set up in memory of his daughter, who was found dead at her London home in July aged 27 - to help cope with his grief.

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "You have to just roll your sleeves up and get cracking.

"At one children`s hospice I met a lady who`d just lost her five-year-old daughter. She said to me, `I`m so sorry about Amy.` We`ve got to raise money to help people like that.

"I haven`t stopped crying since the news, but we do not give in.

"Nothing will deter us in our mission to help kids in Amy`s name."

Mitch knows he will find the festive season particularly tough but plans to take the time to toast his daughter`s memory.

He added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I have great memories of a Christmas tree and the kids opening their presents. A proper magic time.

"This is going to be the first Christmas without Amy so it`s going to be tough.

"We will raise a glass of sherry to her and carry on. We have got plenty of good times to remember, it won`t be easy but we will get through it."
sections: Celebrities