Fury as Britain’s ‘most hated drill rapper’ backs pair who gunned down innocent mother-of-two, 44, outside church

Britain’s ‘most hated drill rapper’ Digga D sparked outrage by supporting two violent criminals who shot dead an innocent mother outside a church.

Digga D, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, called for freedom for his friend Perry Allen-Thomas, who was found guilty of murdering 44-year-old Michelle Sadio on Tuesday.

Ms Sadio was shot dead outside the River of Life Pentecostal Church in Willesden, north London, on December 14, 2024.

He was among about 100 mourners, including children as young as five, who attended the funeral of 80-year-old Dianne Boatong.

At around 9pm, guests were outside on the pavement when a stolen black Kia was parked and shots were fired into the crowd.

Ms. Sadio, the legal administrator, was shot and died at the scene.

Transport for London contractor Kenneth Amoah, 39, was shot in the back and paralyzed from the waist down; Self-employed Kadeem Francis (32) was shot in the foot.

The intended target was said to be a rapper named Trapstar Toxic, whose real name is Adetokunbo Ajibola (33), who was at the event.

Ms Sadio was shot dead outside the River of Life Pentecostal Church in Willesden, north London, on December 14, 2024.

Following an Old Bailey trial, Perry Allen-Thomas, 27, and Amir Salem, 20, were found guilty of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Digga D, 25, who was jailed last year for importing and supplying 99lbs of cannabis, commented on his friend’s conviction after hearing the news.

Alongside a picture of Allen-Thomas and broken heart emojis, she wrote: “The system sucks” and “3 is my courage”.

One of her followers took a screenshot of the post and reposted it on X, where people were outraged by her vile comments.

‘Is the system messed up? He killed a woman for the sake of Bredrin’s priestess. One of them fumed: “Shit mentality.”

Another said: “The system was terrible” and they killed an innocent woman. Digga D is an idiot.”

Rapper Shaquille Sutherland, known as Lil Shak, 26, from Wembley, and Tahjin Sommersall, 19, from Feltham, west London, were cleared of the offenses during the trial.

The prosecution had alleged that Mr Sommersall was in the Kia with two other men who fled the country after the incident.

Although it is not known who pulled the trigger at the Kia, at least four shots were fired.

Allen-Thomas, from Wembley in north London, was said to have helped organize the attack but ensured it happened elsewhere at the time.

The Kia used in the attack was stolen and was being driven with a fake license plate.

After the conflict, he was doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Jurors heard that Salem, of Wembley, bought some of the gasoline used to extinguish the fire.

Jurors were told that on the night of the shooting, Salem was in contact with the Kia passengers and notified Allen-Thomas.

It was said that the gun used in the conflict had been used twice in the past months and was a ‘gang weapon’.

It’s not clear why Digga D thought the system that found the two men guilty of murder was somehow flawed, or why he thought his friend shouldn’t have been sentenced to prison for killing an innocent woman.

But this won’t be the first time the rapper, from West London’s Ladbrook Grove, has said his words have angered the public.

Digga, as he is called by fans, has numerous convictions for gang-related crimes and drugs, and friends claim he earned up to £3 million rapping before he was jailed last year.

His use of rap songs and videos to incite his opponents and glorify violence has led to him being dubbed ‘London’s most hated rapper’ online due to the number of enemies he has.

Herbert, from West London, was even subject to an extremely rare police order controlling his music production due to its links to violence.

20-year-old Amir Salem (left) and 27-year-old Perry Allen-Thomas (right) were found guilty of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Digga, as his fans call him, has numerous convictions for gang-related crimes and drugs, and friends claim he earned up to £3million rapping before he was jailed last year.

He was once nearly blinded when he was stabbed in the eye by a rival during a previous spell in prison for a machete attack. In another incident, someone tried to kill him by opening fire from his car.

In January last year, Digga D was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison for selling 45 kilos of cannabis after helping import the illegal drug from the US.

He was arrested in the early hours of February 21 last year while he was livestreaming on Instagram after police raided his property in Bracebridge Heath, near Lincoln.

Last May he pleaded guilty to charges of importing 3.6 kilos of cannabis and supplying cannabis in June and July 2023.

At sentencing in January, Judge Simon Hirst judged the level of Herbert’s drug dealing after hearing two days of evidence because the prosecution had not accepted the basis of his defence.

Judge Hirst said he was satisfied Herbert had played a significant role in selling cannabis for commercial profit and sentenced him to less than four years in prison. However, he was released in early October 2025.

The court heard Herbert had six previous convictions for 13 offences, including possession of an offensive weapon and violent disorder, which led to him being sentenced to 30 months of youth detention in March 2020.

Herbert told a hearing that he started smoking cannabis from the age of 12 and used it throughout his teenage years ‘to help with frequent migraines’.

He claimed it was ‘beneficial’ to buy his cannabis in bulk because he could afford it and it was cheaper.

The musician said bulk buying also reduced his chances of attracting police attention, as he was frequently stopped both in London and elsewhere in the country.

He also said he obtained bags of marijuana to use in the video for his hit song I’m From.

The rapper, whose real name is Rhys Herbert in the picture, was convicted last May of importing 3.6 kilos of cannabis and additionally supplying cannabis in June and July 2023.

Mobile phone footage of the star allegedly handling a bag of marijuana and complaining about its poor quality was also played in court.

A series of photographs also showed Herbert handling large amounts of cash, the court heard.

In May 2025, Digga D was convicted of driving a Lamborghini worth more than £200,000 without insurance near Piccadilly Circus.

He was tried for the incident in 2023 while languishing in HMP Brixton for drug offences.

He was previously sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for his role in a machete fight in front of shoppers in central London and was released in May 2020.

Anti-knife campaigners also criticized the BBC for producing a documentary about a violent rapper in which he complained about his struggle to make music glorifying gang attacks.

The BBC’s promotional material for the program at the time said: ‘Police say they targeted the drill because it encourages and causes violence, but supporters of the genre call this censorship and say the art merely reflects real life. Digga’s situation and ongoing story embodies this dilemma.’

The Metropolitan Police order even banned him from rapping about rivals or specific attacks, although he could refer to violence in general.

His supporters said he was censored.

But he had hidden obvious coded references to attacks in the songs, and his band’s name, Conspiracy Gang Members, is thought to be a ‘tribute’ to members of the 1011 drill gang who were arrested in 2018 as they went to attack rivals.

In 2018, five members of the 1011 gang, including Digga D, were jailed and banned from making violent videos after they were caught wielding machetes and baseball bats on their way to attack a rival gang in 2017.

They got into a black car and drove from Shepherd’s Bush to the postcode area of ​​their rivals, the ’12 World Gang’, intent on revenge.

However, police swooped in and found them carrying deadly weapons.

The judge banned the five teenagers from mentioning death or injury in their songs or on social media and ordered them to notify police before recording or performing songs.

In 2019, cybercriminals hacked into the Metropolitan Police’s Twitter account and posted tweets calling for Digga D to be released from prison.

In a now-deleted tweet, the hackers wrote: ‘DIGGA D FREE IN FOENEM GANG.’

Normally used only to inform the public about ongoing police matters, the account included comments such as “To hell with the police” and “What are you going to do… call the police?” He shared tweets that read:

In a video that has been viewed almost three million times on YouTube, Digga D boasted about having to whiten his knife after using it to attack someone.

Their songs also talk openly about sex as well as gang rivalries in London.

The lyrics in his songs are often derogatory towards women, as he boasts about treating women poorly and having little to no respect.

He is so hated that rival gang Harrow Road Boys (HRB) hatched a plot to shoot him, for which they were later jailed.

The group sought to hunt down the controversial artist, who is part of the Ladbroke Grove-based CGM (Cherish God More) gang, as part of a tit-for-tat postcode war in west London in 2022 and 2023.