This is the moment that London artist Billy Billions aka Bailey Mckenzie was arrested by armed police on the 22nd of may last year. The Hackney singer/rapper has had millions of streams online and was making a lot of big moves in the music industry before his arrest – along with three other people who went on to stand trial, for possession of a firearm and also possession of ammunition.
After nearly a year on remand and a trial- Billy has beat the case and in an Exclusive episode we’re going reveal the details of the trial and also the evidence the police tried to use that included music videos in court.
New Music
Wasting no time on his return Billy has just announced that he’s dropping a new music video as soon as he came home – and in the trailer for the video it shows the grave of Rashan Charles, he was Billy’s friend who was killed in 2017 at the hands of police.
Rashan’s death was classed as accidental-but there was a lot of doubt due to the fact that he was held on the ground by a police officer until he stopped breathing inside a shop.
Billy’s case
In relation to the case that Billy has just beat, one person has been convicted and jailed and four people stood trial and three of them were found not guilty and Billy is one of them.
The official police statement from the day said the Metropolitan specialist crime command conducted an intelligence-led stop with the support of armed officers on two vehicles travelling in convoy along victoria park road east London.
Armed stop
Mazlum Sirgurtmac was arrested at the scene along with Billy and two other people he was also charged with possession of a loaded Glock that was found in the first vehicle in a bag on the back seat next to Mazlum.
The police also found ammunition inside, all of them were arrested and charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to possess ammunition on the 27th of May 2021.
Mazlum pleaded guilty at Snaresbook crown court and was sentenced to seven years and two months on Thursday the 10th of February 2022 for conspiracy to possess a firearm and also the ammunition.
The police said that Glock guns are very rare on the streets of London and they hope that this sentence is a big warning to anybody involved in the possession and use of firearms.
Billy’s co-defendant had pled guilty and took full responsibility for the firearm but this didn’t stop the police trying to gather a lot of evidence for the crown prosecution in order to try to convict Billy on the same charge – the prosecution gathered evidence on Billy’ character based on his music
‘Bad character”
The case files reveal the details of the trial.
The first document is called the “Skeleton argument” which is what the prosecution and defense have to show each other before any court appearance this is the basis of any controversial elements to the case and the prosecution’s skeleton arguments in this case was the application to admit “gang evidence” into the trial.
On the 30th of December 2021 the prosecution said that Bailey Mckenzie aka Billy Billions was a “drill rapper” and police used a video from his “Hotspot” performed on “Pac-man tv” that was uploaded on the 27th of april 2020.
They used screenshots from the video to show the court that throughout the video Mckenzie raps about being involved in gang violence and some of them are shooting,stabbings and assaults involving kettles and rival gang members.
They go on to say Mckenzie and two other males also in the video throw “gang signs” up and also make “stabbing” in “shooting motions” at the camera the video evidence was provided by PC Jamie Preston an officer who works in the Hackney borough and works for the gang unit.
They then go on to list different lyrics in the milliseconds as to what he says various other references that the prosecution used to try to say that Billy was an active gang member they go on to say that PC Preston is responsible for translating and interpreting the “hotspot video lyrics” and he said that it was a “gang motivated” video as opposed to a purely commercial track.
Preston said that he made reference to “real life incidents” and “real-life gang members” and Mckenzie is affiliated to the “Holly street gang” and this was trying to prove “bad character” on the side of Bailey Mckenzie – so they didn’t get him with a firearm, no dna they didn’t link any shootings to him.
The police’s evidence wassolely based on trying to make the jury believe that his character is so bad that he must be guilty of conspiring to use this firearm.
They also they go on to say that in short the evidence is capable of demonstrating that at the time of the alleged offences Mckenzie was a participating gang member that was involved in violence and also firearms.
The prosecution then uses previous cases to say that they’ve already accepted violent signs in gang videos as evidence in court cases.
Billy’s defense was that the music videos were nothing more than a “demonstration of association to a musical genre” and they did not signify “gang membership” in any way and the words and gestures are not to be taken seriously.
This case also shows how the police monitor online activities and take detailed notes of musicians lyrics and what they say and how much it can be used against them in some cases.
Later on in the trial they hear another part of the case evidence – there is a witness statement and this is from a Detective Constable involved in the case called Miss Hawksbee she said this is the fourth statement she’s provided in relation to this case she said on three days in May.
” I was involved in the arrest and charging of several individuals for firearms offences, she has outlined her prior involvements in previous statements and she also specifies what she did gathering evidence for the case – she also interviewed both maslam and also Bailey aka Billy and uploaded three clips that were shared to colleagues in relation to cctv footage for the case.
During the investigation she was looking through Mazlam’s phone and she found video clips that she believes were Billy and Mazlam holding a firearm together surrounded by other people.
She then sent an email to an experienced officer PC Terry Marsh from the task force she asked the fellow officer to also verify if he believed that both of the people in the video were Billy and also Mazlam, they went on to also provide other details of videos from Turkey and snapchat accounts that were registered to Billy Billions.
The prosecution said they were using firearms while abroad and they wanted to use this to show his “bad character”
Luckily for Billy the jury didn’t believe this and they found him and two others not guilty of any offences. This definitely raises questions on whether music videos should be used in court or whether you think they should i’d love to hear what people have to say on that subject.
In relation to this story and with Billy’s latest music video about to drop tonight it’s paying tribute to his friend Rashan Charles and it will be really interesting to see what he does with this new song and it’s good that he’s back and he’s got a second opportunity to make the best of his music career.
His new music video is availble to watch on his youtube channel now.
