‘My family’s lives are in danger’: Singer and presenter Jamelia, 37, is ‘living in fear’ as she speaks out for the first time since her stepbrother’s murder conviction and says has lost TV work over her association with the killer
- Jamelia says that coverage of Tafarwa Beckford has harmed TV opportunities
- She says that being linked to him leaves her in fear of reprisals from criminals
- Jamelia says she was two years old when mother had relations with killer’s father
- The mother-of-three has said that she has no current connection to Beckford
Jamelia (pictured) says ‘careless’ coverage of the trial means that she lives in fear and has lost work
Singer Jamelia says she ‘lives in fear’ and has had TV work ‘taken away’ due to media coverage of her stepbrother’s conviction for murder.
Gangster Tafarwa Beckford was found guilty of the shooting of Derek Myers on Friday after a trial in which he was permitted to use an assumed name.
He used his middle name, Theodore, throughout in order to decrease the possibility of jurors reading articles that linked him to other crimes.
The 36-year-old Burger Bar Boys member was linked to Jamelia’s family in media reports.
The killer, who was nicknamed Dreads, gunned down his 25-year-old victim outside a pool hall in Hockley, Birmingham, during a mass brawl which left another victim with life-changing injuries in 2015.
Jamelia branded coverage of the case ‘careless’ and wrote on her blog that the fact she is ‘used as the peg or promotional tool’ for the stories is ‘damaging’ and ‘lazy’.
‘These articles cause me to live in fear that someone may seek revenge on me or my family due to these “apparent links”, despite being completely oblivious to, and disassociated with, all aspects of these cases and those involved,’ she said.
‘Notorious’ gang member Tafarwa Beckford (left), 36, was been found guilty of murder of Derek Myers (right) after his true identity was hidden from jurors
The mother-of-three said that ‘three major channels’ have told her that because the reports ‘tainted’ her profile they will have to ‘change direction’ on upcoming projects.
Beckford was convicted on Friday and will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.
Denying any current relationship with the killer, she wrote that her mother had a relationship with Beckford’s father back when the singer was two years old and that they never married.
The performer suggested that West Midlands gun dealer Paul Edmunds, 67, who was not involved in Beckford’s trial should shoulder publicity for gun deaths in her home city.
Beckford ( numbered 20 in the above image) opened fire outside the Big Bang pool hall in Hockley, Birmingham, during a mass brawl which was caught on CCTV from a passing bus at about 4am on October 30, 2015
Police believe the brawl involved factions of the Burger Bar gang after a fall-out between members. Beckford (numbered 20) is here shown gesturing at Mr Myers before killing him
Edmunds supplied illegal guns as well as home-made bullets that have been linked to 100 crime scenes.
They include three murders in the city and the dealer was jailed for 30 years in December 2017.
When his Gloucestershire home was raided in July 2015 police found 100,000 of ammunition.