🔴 GHETTS ADMITS KILLING STUDENT IN HORROR HIT-AND-RUN
Rapper and actor Justin Clarke-Samuel – better known as Ghetts – has formally admitted causing the death of 20-year-old student Yubin Tamang in a late-night hit-and-run collision in east London, entering a guilty plea at the Old Bailey that now places him on a direct path towards what the Recorder of London described as an inevitable prison sentence.
Clarke-Samuel, 41, date of birth 14 October 1983, of Woodford, east London, appeared via video link from HMP Pentonville wearing a green Lacoste shirt as he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and to unrelated incidents of dangerous driving moments before the fatal collision, spanning Tavistock Place and other roads in Islington, Camden and Hackney
The court was told that just after 11.30pm on 18 October, CCTV captured Mr Tamang walking along Redbridge Lane East, Ilford, before checking for traffic and stepping into the carriageway; seconds later, Clarke-Samuel’s black BMW M5 – heavily damaged and registered in his name – struck the student with such force that he was propelled an estimated 60 to 70 feet into the air, scattering his belongings across the road, before crashing back to the ground
Clarke-Samuel did not stop
The prosecution outlined how he continued driving, later travelling dangerously through Worcester Crescent in Redbridge on his route back to his home address, where the BMW was abandoned on an adjacent road roughly 10 to 15 minutes after the impact; police arrested him at 4.40am, locating vehicle documents and the car key inside the property, officers noting the smell of alcohol on his breath as he questioned what car he was alleged to have been driving
The victim, an only child sent from Nepal to study at the University of Roehampton, was found bleeding heavily and unresponsive by a passing motorist; he died in hospital two days later, and members of his family travelled from Nepal to attend today’s hearing
Prosecutor Varinder Hayre said the force of the collision shattered the BMW’s windscreen and caused extensive frontal damage; officers recovered broken car parts and a rucksack at the scene, and witnesses described the immediate aftermath as chaotic and shocking
Clarke-Samuel, who accepts having consumed Hennessy and Coke earlier that evening, has not yet entered pleas to further allegations of causing death by careless driving while over the alcohol limit, nor to an additional dangerous driving charge
The court was reminded that the defendant has 13 previous convictions for 27 offences, including aggravated vehicle taking, burglary, robbery, ABH and breaches of suspended sentences, with his last conviction recorded in 2010 for driving whilst disqualified
A celebrated figure in British grime with collaborations spanning Skepta, Stormzy and Ed Sheeran, Clarke-Samuel’s career has earned him MOBO Awards, a Mercury Prize nomination and recent prominence through his role in the Netflix series Supacell; none of that, Judge Mark Lucraft KC made clear, bears on the sentencing exercise now ahead
Clarke-Samuel remains remanded at HMP Pentonville and is expected to be sentenced on 12 February, when the court will determine the full extent of the custodial term he must serve for causing Mr Tamang’s death
Well, that’s all for now. But until our next article, please stay tuned, stay informed, but most of all stay safe, and I’ll see you then.
ON X:
https://x.com/ukcourtslive/status/1998059245531451767?s=46&t=h80FWXjz28zOMAbT5-aYHg
