DJ in rap video with gang who ‘mocked killing’
RADIO DJ Tim Westwood recorded a YouTube rap video with a gang in which they apparently celebrated the murder a teenager.
Abdullahi Tarabi, 19, was stabbed to death in West London on April 11 last year. Two 17-year-olds accused of the stabbing were cleared last October.
Around that time, the ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ posted a video recorded with a rap gang on his YouTube channel TimWestwoodTV.
They appear to boast that Abdullahi – referred to by nickname ‘Teewiz’ – ‘got splashed and died, and I don’t feel sorry for his mum’.
Abdullahi’s mother Fawziya Ahmed said the men were ‘taunting her’, adding: ‘They can’t imagine what it feels like to lose a son. This video makes me upset and I don’t feel safe any more.’
The video – recorded in Westwood’s studio – shows the Capital FM DJ introducing the gang known as 1011, who appear to smoke drugs while wearing balaclavas to obscure their identities. The video has been removed from Westwood TV but the song remains available on YouTube.
Abdullahi’s sister Muna said they had reported the video to police but were told nothing could be done. She said: ‘How have these boys been allowed to go on with Tim Westwood who is promoting them on his TV channel? It is glamorising knife crime.’
Jen Lock, of campaign group Lives Instead of Knives Ealing, claims Westwood regularly hosted gang members in his studio.
TimWestwoodTV said the artists were rap groups not gangs, and the channel had not been aware of the events surrounding the lyrics in question.
Westwood’s YouTube channel was reportedly identified in a leaked police database as hosting videos showing alleged gangsters threatening rivals, The Times reported. The Met Police database was claimed to track more than 600 suspected gangsters across 1,100 videos – including 32 hosted by Westwood.