A jailed drill rapper has released an EP from behind bars – using his own mugshot on the cover.
Jyrelle O’Connor raps about ‘shooting people out of boredom’ in the new collection, which he is promoting to his 382,000 Instagram followers using jail visuals, including a blood-spattered document stamped ‘HM Prison Service’.
The 26-year-old career criminal is now set to cash in from ‘Be Right Back’, which is now live on Spotify and other streaming services and includes six new tracks in total.
The songs mention drugs and violence alongside threats against rivals, with O’Connor saying at one point: ‘Don’t make me act foolish. Used to go other side and wet [shoot] a man for boredom.’
Norman Brennan, a former police officer turned knife crime campaigner, described the EP as further proof of Britain’s justice system was ‘broken’.
O’Connor, who uses the rap name Loski, was arrested by traffic police looking for a driver involved in a fatal crash on the M40 in Buckinghamshire in the early hours of July 12.
After scuffling with officers, he was found in possession of a folding pocket knife. Three days later, magistrates jailed him for eight months for possessing a knife and obstructing a police officer. A 27-year-old man died in the crash.
Jyrelle O’Connor raps about ‘shooting people out of boredom’ in his new EP
The 26-year-old career criminal is set to cash in from ‘Be Right Back’, which is now live on Spotify and other streaming services and includes six new tracks in total
At the time, O’Connor – from Farnham Royal in Buckinghamshire – had been out on licence after being handed a seven-year prison sentence in 2023 for having a loaded revolver.
He was arrested in April 2019 by officers looking to question him over the death of one of his associates who was fatally stabbed the year in a suspected revenge attack.
Having stopped and performed a search of an Uber the rapper was travelling in, police found a loaded revolver concealed under the passenger seat.
He denied charges related to the possession of a prohibited firearm with intent to endanger life, but a jury at Croydon Crown Court found him guilty on all counts.
Alongside his life of crime, O’Connor has pursued a rap career that has seen him featured on the BBC.
Norman Brennan told Metro.co.uk: ‘You have to ask yourself, how is a prisoner able to release music from behind bars?
‘The public and the victims expect a prisoner to have a certain amount of privileges taken from them apart from cooking, communal and rehabilitation work and use of a gym to keep themselves fit, that should basically be it. The British criminal justice is broken from top to bottom, and this is a typical example.
‘You have someone sent to prison for possession of a knife, a weapon that could seriously injure or even kill someone, thumbing their nose at the criminal justice system.’
O’Connor, who uses the rap name Loski, was found in possession of a knife after being arrested by traffic police looking for a driver involved in a fatal crash on the M40
Alongside his life of crime, O’Connor has pursued a rap career that has seen him featured on the BBC. He’s seen at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on March 25, 2019
A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Whilst we have safeguards in place to ensure that money sourced from illicit means do not reach prisoners, victims and their families deserve better than to see perpetrators gloating about their crimes on social media.
‘We will not tolerate this behaviour and work with the police to investigate and remove harmful content.
‘Offenders caught using phones or social media in prison face punishment, including extra time behind bars.’
Inmates have repeatedly flouted the ban on using phones behind bars.
Earlier this week, the Daily Mail revealed how an Albanian murderer had been posting on TikTok from his British prison cell begging to be transferred to a jail in his home country so he can see his family and avoid the ‘terrible’ food.
Eugert Merizaj, 32, has been repeatedly posting on social media after being handed a 32-year sentence in May 2022 for the shotgun killing of rival drug dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein.
In his latest clip this month, Merizaj claims UK officials are stopping him from being transferred to Albania to serve the rest of his sentence there.
Asked when he expects to be sent home, the killer replies: ‘I have done all the applications. It seems to me that those of us serving life sentences are not moving at all.’
The thug was previously found in possession of this 4mm Flobert revolver
O’Connor’s gun is seen pictured in the footwell of a car where it was concealed in a black sock
A prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Albania came into force in May 2023.
Intended to save taxpayer money, it allows for the removal of any Albanians serving more than four years in British jails, so that they can then serve the remainder of their sentences back home.
However, it has been dogged by delays and a source at the Albanian Prison Service told the Daily Mail that only ten Albanian prisoners have been transferred so far.
