Rapper woken by police smashing down door of his London home after reports he was burgling it

Police officers kicked down the door of grime artist Stormzy’s house after it was mistakenly reported he was burgling his own home.

The rapper, real name Michael Omari, was woken in the early hours of Tuesday morning to the sounds of the police smashing down the door of his Chelsea house, which he had only recently moved into.

He tweeted a picture of the wreckage, writing: “Woke up to Feds destroying my front door coz apparently I’m a burglar who burgles his own home. @MetPolice need your bank details still.”

Scotland Yard said they were responding to a report of conspiracy to burgle and had thought the flat was empty. It was only after they had forced their way into the property around 1am on Tuesday that they realised it was legally occupied.

They said they stayed at Omari’s house until it was secured. The Met also responded to him on Twitter, telling the rapper: “If you wish to make a complaint please DM [direct message] us so we can take some more details. Thanks.”

A Met police spokesperson said: “Police were called to an address in West Brompton at 00:55hrs on Tuesday, 14 February to a report of a conspiracy to burgle a ground-floor flat, believed to have been vacant.



“Officers attended and forced entry to the property, and found there to be two lawful occupants inside. Officers remained at the property until it was made secure.



“Officers have since been in further communication with the complainant.”



The 23-year-old, who is set to release his debut album this month, has been outspoken in the past about racism and the police.

“Don’t be the stupid idiot who thinks because we live in the UK that black people don’t experience racism from the police, don’t be so flipping naive,” he wrote.

“We have black brothers and sisters dying in the States and we’d be cowards to just brush it off, this is all of our problems. That could easily be me or my little brother or my sisters.”

Stormzy is among those nominated for British Breakthrough Artist at this year’s Brit awards. The ceremony was criticised last year for ignoring grime artists such as Stormzy and his contemporaries Skepta and Kano, who are also nominated this year.



