‘Drill rap’ warning after two convicted of knife murder

A JUDGE has blamed Youtube drill music for escalating gang violence after a music producer was killed.

Devone Pusey, 20, and Kai Stewart, 18, stabbed Dean Pascal-modeste, 22, to death on Feb 24 last year after a feud played out in drill rap videos, a court heard.

Both men appeared in Youtube videos for Lewisham’s B Side gang, which mocked their rivals from the Splash gang. Mr Pascale-modeste was not affiliated with any gang, but he was knifed up to 14 times as he made his way to a recording session with two men associated with Splash.

Stewart, who fled to Jamaica after the killing, and Pusey, from Bellingham, south-east London, were both convicted of murder yesterday after a second trial at the Old Bailey. They face sentencing on May 17.

Judge Nicholas Cooke said: “Music, of course, does not kill people. But there is legitimate concern about the glamorisation of violence in some of the material we hear in these cases and this is a good example of this.”

Alex Scott and Corey Donaldson, both 18, have already been convicted of the murder and jailed for life.