Ladies and gentlefolk, welcome to the noughties equivalent of Freddy Star ate my hamster. Yep, tabloid goldmine Amy Winehouse has been accused of murdering a friend's pet hamster. Are hamsters the most rock'n'roll rodents in the world? That, or they're bloody unlucky.

Palladium singer Peter Pepper believes that Winehouse caused the death of his hamster George Porgie (!) when she came over to his girlfriend's house in North London for some drinks last year. He told the Mirror: "Georgie was a birthday present and we'd got him out to play with in the morning. I'd been to bed, but Amy had stayed up and was still going strong and had drunk the drinks cabinet dry. The next thing I know, it bites me, runs off and Amy says she'll catch it. I was a bit suspicious when she said she was good with hamsters." Can you even picture that scene?

Pepper, not lying or seeking to get the name of his band in the papers in any way at all, went on "I went to put a plaster on my finger and by the time I came back Amy said she'd put it to bed and it was sleeping... but just hours later the hamster was stone cold and hard. I don't know what she did to it - it was probably crack!"

Pepper admitted that he has never confronted Winehouse about this appalling incident (snigger) because he is fearful of how she might react. "I've never directly accused her of killing my hamster as I'm too scared. She can be quiet fierce." Too right, son. She'd kick your arse. Then whatever pets you've got left in the house. Next week 'Amy Winehouse put my racing pigeons in a blender...'

[via DS]