Dizzee Rascal, 37, whose real name is Dylan Mills, has been given a community order with a 24-week curfew and a 12-month restraining order at London’s Croydon Magistrates’ Court for assaulting his ex-fiancee during a row over child contact and finances.
He will have to wear an electronic tag.
Dizzee was found guilty of attacking Cassandra Jones after a trial in March, with a judge concluding he had been “abusive and aggressive”. During the trial, Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court heard he had pressed his forehead against hers before pushing her to the ground during the incident at a residential property in Streatham, south London, on June 8 last year.
The musician, behind chart-topping singles Bonkers and Dance Wiv Me, was “frustrated” over custody arrangements and the pair had an argument when he dropped off their daughter at the property, the court heard. Mills, who had two children with Ms Jones before they split up in February 2021, was said to have “barged” into the home, banged his head on a fridge three times while holding his son and began “screaming and shouting” at Ms Jones and her mother Dawn Kirk.
The court heard how Ms Jones began filming him but he took her phone from her and then took Ms Kirk’s phone. The shouting became so loud that it alerted two neighbours and police were called, a judge was told.
The court heard how when they arrived, Mills told officers “I’m the aggressor”, but later gave a prepared statement in a police interview, denying the allegations and claimed he had been assaulted by Ms Jones. Following the guilty verdict, Mills smashed a photographer’s camera outside court after knocking it from their hands and hurling it across the road.
Police initially said they were investigating but no charges were brought. Ms Jones said the verdict showed “wealth and status cannot be used to silence women”.
Mills released his debut album, Boy In Da Corner, in 2003. His seventh studio album E3 AF, which refers to his east London postcode and African heritage, is due out on October 30.
He was made an MBE for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2020, and performed at festivals in August including Live At Lydiard in Swindon and Boardmasters in Cornwall.
