The Amy Winehouse Foundation has defended a recent auction one of the late singer's dresses after fans criticised the sale for being too soon.

The brightly coloured minidress, which Winehouse once wore on stage during a concert in Brazil, went under the hammer on the auction show Four Rooms earlier this week (March 28) and was purchased by dealer Jeff Salmon for £25,000. Its sale has since sparked a wave of criticism from fans.

A spokesperson for The Amy Winehouse Foundation has now spoken out about the situation and explained that the intention was purely to raise money:

"This was simply a way of raising as much money as possible for terminally ill children to go away on holiday with their parents, perhaps for the final time."

Mitch has also opened up about the auction and posted a series of messages on social networking site Twitter that revealed Amy donated the dress to a charity named Hopes and Dreams before her untimely death and he was simply asked to "help with negotiations":

"Regarding the auction dress on 4 rooms on channel 4 tonight. Amy gave that dress to Hopes and Dreams charity 9 months before she passed away. It is not our dress. I was asked to help with negotiations so we are not selling Amy's dress. But we will sell others to raise money for kids that need help."

Watch coverage of The Amy Winehouse Foundation's donation to the Hopes and Dreams charity below: