Dizzee Rascal smashes photographer’s camera after court’s guilty verdict
Musician, 37, snatches device from PA man after being found guilty of assault of ex-fiancee.
Musician Dizzee Rascal, whose real name is Dylan Mills, smashed a photographer’s camera outside court on Monday after he was found guilty of assaulting his ex-fiancee.
Mills hurled the camera across the road outside Wimbledon magistrates court, just moments after a verdict of guilty was returned for a charge of assault against Cassandra Jones, the mother of his two children.
The rapper and grime artist had denied pressing his forehead against Jones’s forehead and pushing her to the ground during a “chaotic” row at a residential property in Streatham, south London, on 8 June last year.
The 37-year-old Mills had two children with Jones before they split in February 2021.Advertisement
Mills is said to have been “frustrated” over custody arrangements and the pair had an argument when he dropped off their daughter at the property.
The court heard that Mills “barged” into the home, banged his head on a fridge three times while holding his son, and began “screaming and shouting” at Jones and her mother, Dawn Kirk. After Jones began filming him, Mills took her phone, as well as Kirk’s.
The court heard that the shouting was loud and it alerted the neighbours. Police were also called. Mills denied the allegations and claimed he had been assaulted by Jones.
After leaving the building moments after the verdict, Mills took a camera from PA news agency photographer James Manning – responsible for the image at the top of this article – and threw it into a road, smashing it.
Manning said: ““He came out of the court, I was taking his picture, just standing still on the corner. 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.”
He added: “He was angry, he came straight out of the door, didn’t say anything, didn’t say anything until the point at which he pushed my camera.
“I think he said something like ‘Get away’ or ‘Get out of my face’ or something along those lines. After that he just walked off and I didn’t chase after him or anything like that.”
Earlier, district judge Polly Gledhill said: “I am satisfied so that I am sure that on 8 June, Mr Mills, on returning home with the child late, lost his temper in an argument over child contact and finances.”
She added that Mills had been “abusive and aggressive” and “assaulted her [Jones] as outlined by the crown”.
Mills is due to be sentenced for assault on 8 April at Croydon magistrates court.
