British rapper Dizzee Rascal has been found guilty of assaulting his former partner.
According to U.K. press reports, the musician, whose real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills, was found guilty of assault by beating at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on Monday. As he left court, he also reportedly broke a Press Association (PA) photographer’s camera.
The incident at the center of the conviction took place in June 2021, when Mills went to his former partner Cassandra Jones’ home in South London. The couple have two children together.
Mills reportedly “barged” his way into Jones’ home before pushing her around the room and eventually to the floor. He also smacked his head repeatedly on the fridge.
Jones’ mother was also in the property at the time. When the women attempted to film his behavior on their cell phones, he took their phones away from them.
According to a BBC report of the hearing, neighbors called the police after hearing loud shouting. The report continued that district judge Polly Gledhill returned a guilty verdict, saying the argument had arisen over child contact issues as well as finances, and that Mills had become “abusive and aggressive.”
As the rapper exited the court on Monday, he also got into an altercation with PA photographer James Manning. “He came out of the court, I was taking his picture, just standing still on the corner,” Manning told PA. “He then pushed my camera into my face, which then caused it to fall to the floor, at which point he then picked it up and then threw it across the road. It smashed into a lot of pieces.”
Mills shot to fame in the early 2000s with hits such as “Fix Up, Look Sharp” and “Bonkers.” His debut album, “Boy in da Corner,” won the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. He released his seventh studio album “E3 AF,” in 2020, the same year he was awarded an MBE for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Mills is also a regular on U.K. television, having appeared on last year’s “The Great Celebrity Bake Off.” He will also voice a character in upcoming Netflix animated anthology “The House.”
He will be sentenced on April 8 in London.
