Lewisham rapper Professor Green today admitted he was drink-driving when he crashed a Mercedes as he “chased a mugger” outside his home.
The 30-year-old I Need You Tonight singer drove after being robbed of a £40,000 Rolex watch outside his house in Tyrwhitt Road on November 3 last year, Bromley Magistrates' Court heard.
Stephen Manderson, the real name of Professor Green, was disqualified from driving for a maximum of 12 months after pleading guilty to drink-driving.
Police were called by the rapper at around 2.40am after he crashed the Merc into a parked van in Darling Road close to his home, the court heard.
The singer claims he gave chase in the car after fearing the thief was pursuing his Made in Chelsea Star wife Millie Mackintosh who he heard screaming.
Prosecuting, Samantha Mitchell told the court he was initially “hostile” to police and found to have 52 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, where the legal limit for driving is 35 micrograms.
Defending, David Hislop told the court: “He screamed out to his wife to run away and then he tried to fight off his assailant and during the course of that heard his wife scream.”
He added: “He believed she was being chased by him, he panicked.
“This defendant had been attacked himself and stabbed in the throat (in May 2009), he nearly died.
“So one can understand perhaps the measure of this panic.”
The celebrity couple had been in a nightclub before the incident and returned home after Professor Green decided his wife had had too much to drink, the court heard.
Mr Hislop went on to say “things got worse” as the police did not believe the rapper’s robbery claim and arrested him on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
He added officers came up with a “deal” where the charge would be dropped if Mr Manderson dropped his claim about the robbery.
He said: “He was arrested for perverting the course of justice, the police not believing the account of robbery. This of course was a ludicrous suggestion.”
He added: “It is a measure of the integrity of the defendant that he refused the deal.”
Mr Hislop said the musician suffered financial losses after losing a business partnership when the second arrest was leaked to the press.
He said: “Those are the facts and we see this man has already suffered quite disproportionately for the error of judgement he took that night.”
Manderson and Ms Mackintosh, who married in September last year, arrived at court together dressed in matching black outfits.
District Judge Vanessa Lloyd fined him a total of £525 in court costs and told him if he attended a driving rehabilitation course his disqualification could be reduced to nine months.
Speaking softly from the dock, the rapper thanked the judge following the sentence for which she took into account his early guilty plea and mitigating circumstances.
Talking after the hearing, Professor Green told reporters: "I'm upset that it took this long to get to here. I am however happy we came across a judge who was fair and understanding with the circumstances that led to this - unlike other people we've met along the way.
"The irony of being arrested for perverting the course of justice after admitting to the crime I committed all along is that the lesser charge would have been wasting police time.
"The only people wasting police time was the police."
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