A 20-year-old university student from Nepal lost his life after being struck by a car travelling at more than double the speed limit on a residential east London street — and the man behind the wheel, award-winning rapper Ghetts, has now been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the killing.
Justin Clarke-Samuel, 41, whose stage name is Ghetts, was sentenced at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty in December to causing the death of Yubin Tamang by dangerous driving. Judge Mark Lucraft KC also handed Clarke-Samuel a 17-year driving ban, describing CCTV footage of his driving that evening as a “quite appalling litany of incidents” that were “simply shocking.”
Tamang was crossing Redbridge Lane East in Ilford on the evening of 18 October 2025 when he was struck by Clarke-Samuel’s BMW M5, which was travelling at over 60mph in a 30mph zone. Prosecutor Philip McGhee told the court that Tamang “was catapulted into the air before crashing down on the roadway” and sustained what were described as “catastrophic injuries.” He died in hospital two days later.
Clarke-Samuel, from Woodford Green in east London, had been drinking prior to the crash and was found to be one and a half times over the legal drink-drive limit. He had initially told police he had consumed three glasses of brandy with a meal. CCTV footage shown to the court captured the full extent of his dangerous driving in the period leading up to the collision — including failing to stop at six consecutive red lights, repeatedly crossing onto the wrong side of the road, mounting the kerb, and colliding with both a motorcyclist and a Mercedes before reaching the fatal point on Redbridge Lane East.
Clarke-Samuel did not stop after hitting Tamang. An Uber driver who came across the scene initially believed he had spotted a “bundle of clothes in the road” before realising Tamang was seriously injured and calling 999. Officers later traced a damaged wing mirror found at the scene to Clarke-Samuel’s vehicle, which was subsequently located near his home with significant damage to the windscreen, bonnet and front bumper.
In a statement, Tamang’s family said: “Justin Clarke-Samuel has stolen our son’s future and ours with it. We can never forgive him for what he has done.”
Shani Taggart of the Crown Prosecution Service said Clarke-Samuel “knew he was in no fit state to drive” and that the case reflected a “fatal decision to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking.”
