Rapper Ghetts pleads guilty to causing death by dangerous driving

Rapper Ghetts has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving in a hit-and-run crash.

The 41-year-old also pleaded guilty to driving dangerously in areas of London before the fatal collision, which happened in Ilford, northeast London, shortly after 11.30pm on 18 October.

Yubin Tamang, 20, a student from Nepal, died two days after being hit by the rapper's BMW M5 in Redbridge Lane.

Ghetts, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, appeared for a hearing at the Old Bailey via videolink from Pentonville prison on Monday, wearing a green polo shirt.

He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and to driving dangerously in Tavistock Place, in the Bloomsbury area of central London, and on other roads in Camden, Islington and Hackney before the crash.

Mr Tamang's family, who had travelled to the UK, watched in court as the pleas were made. He was an only child who had been sent to complete his studies, the court heard.

Clarke-Samuel, a two-time Mercury Prize nominee and MOBO winner, has been in custody since a preliminary appearance at Barkingside Magistrates' Court on 27 October.

He will now be sentenced in February. Judge Mark Lucraft KC told him "the only sentence to be passed is a custodial sentence", but the length of his jail term is yet to be determined.

The rapper was first nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2021, for his third album Conflict Of Interest. His second nomination came for his fourth album, On Purpose, With Purpose, in 2024.

He was named best male artist at the MOBOs in 2021, and received the pioneer award for his contribution to British black culture in 2024.

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