Amy Winehouse's former husband Blake Fielder-Civil has claimed the singer “died” in his arms at the climax of a three-day drugs binge.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Fielder-Civil said his ex-wife suffered a “full-blown epileptic fit” after the couple took a cocktail of heroin and crack cocaine in August 2007.

"I was panicking. I didn't know how to help her. I was out of it on drugs as well - and was sobbing and crying out: 'Amy!'” he said.

Fielder-Civil, who divorced from Winehouse last week, told how he put the singer in the recovery position and pulled her tongue out of her mouth so she wouldn't swallow it.

"It was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. I felt sure I was watching her die right in front of me,” he said.

"I didn't know what to do or how to save her. I held her to me - and I thought she was dying in my arms.

"But somehow I managed to open her mouth and breathe air down her throat. At first nothing happened. So I did it again."

He added: “I was feeling for her pulse because I thought her heart might have stopped. Then she spluttered - and I saw her chest rise.

"I was still sobbing and panicking but I just felt this huge relief that she was alive."

The couple, who married in 2007, were awarded a Decree Nisi at London's High Court earlier this month.

Last Friday, Winehouse was cleared of assaulting a fan backstage at a charity ball in September 2008.

(by Jason Gregory)