🔴 MOBO WINNER NINES FACES JAIL AFTER DRUGS GUILTY PLEA
UK rapper and MOBO Award winner Nines, aka Courtney Freckleton, back in the dock after Heathrow arrest as his criminal past and drug offences catch up with him
Rapper Nines, real name Courtney Freckleton, has admitted fresh drug offences and a breach of a court order at Kingston Crown Court, following his arrest at Heathrow Airport last November.
The 34-year-old, whose music career has long drawn on references to cannabis culture, entered guilty pleas to three charges and was immediately remanded in custody after the judge warned he faced an inevitable prison sentence.
Freckleton admitted being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug, namely cannabis, between 1 August and 16 November 2023, as well as possessing cannabis on 15 November 2024. He also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a Serious Crime Prevention Order by not notifying authorities of a change of address.
The rapper was arrested after arriving at Heathrow, a moment captured in a widely shared TikTok clip showing him in handcuffs being escorted by police officers through the terminal, prompting significant discussion online.
Judge Simon Heptonstall refused bail and adjourned sentencing until the end of next month, telling Freckleton that an immediate custodial term was unavoidable. The conviction adds to a criminal record already marked by serious drug trafficking offences.
In 2013 he was jailed for 18 months for possession of cannabis with intent to supply. Eight years later, in 2021, he admitted a plot to import 28kg of cannabis from Spain and Poland as well as laundering nearly £100,000 linked to the drugs’ value. On that occasion he was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court to 28 months’ imprisonment.
The rapper has released six albums, including the Crop Circle trilogy, each laced with references to cannabis and the underground economy surrounding it. Earlier this month he cancelled a planned music festival, Crop Circle World, which had been scheduled to take place in Margate, Kent, in what appeared to be an acknowledgment of his unresolved legal position.
His career has repeatedly intersected with the criminal justice system, and his personal life has also been scarred by violence. In 2008 his brother Wayne “Zino” Freckleton was fatally shot in a Harlesden barbershop, a killing that led to two men being jailed for a minimum of 30 years each.
That event has loomed large over Freckleton’s background and is often cited in accounts of his rise from Church End in north-west London to prominence in the British rap scene.
The latest convictions underline a continuing pattern of drug-related offending despite previous custodial sentences and the imposition of a Serious Crime Prevention Order designed to restrict his activities.
With sentencing now adjourned until next month, the question is not whether he will return to prison but for how long this latest spell will keep him away from the recording studio and the live stage.
