And finally…musical courtroom interlude brings leniency for tax fraud rapper

An American rapper has avoided a maximum jail term for a $1.7m (£1.2m) tax evasion offence after he persuaded a judge to listen to one of his hit tracks to prove how hard his life had been.

DMX - real name Earl Simmons - managed to convince Judge Jed Rakoff to listen to ‘Slippin’ before deciding how to sentence him for tax fraud.

A well as the insight offered by the track, which includes the lyrics “To live is to suffer, but to survive, well, that’s to find meaning in the suffering”, the US rapper also admitted his guilt for the offence, saying he “wasn’t following the rules” by not paying his taxes.

In the dock he asked for leniency so he could spend more time with his 18-month-old son, who has a medical condition that has already required two operations.

Prosecutors at Manhattan Federal Court had been pushing for a five-year prison sentence but, following the musical interlude during which DMX and some of his supporters nodded to the beat of the song, Rakoff settled on one year for someone he said was a “good man” who had been “his own worst enemy”.

His lawyer, Murray Richman, wanted the “model prisoner” to be free so he could support his children and pay back the tax money he had avoided, but Judge Rakoff said his “brazen and blatant” crime could not go unpunished.

The judge also ordered the rapper, who featured alongside Jay-Z on the on 1999 Ja Rule track ‘It’s Murda’, to pay $2.3m (£1.6m) to the tax authorities.

Prior to hearing the song, the courtroom had heard how DMX - whose 2003 song ,X Gon’ Give It to Ya, was featured heavily in the hit Marvel film Deadpool in 2016 - had endured an abusive childhood and been abandoned by his mother at a young age.

The father of 15, who has appeared in films including Cradle 2 the Grave and Romeo Must Die, both starring Jet Li, has also battled a drug habit and served jail sentences in the past on charges including animal cruelty, reckless driving, drug possession and weapons possession.