Killer's fantasy of violence was fuelled by gangsta rap Jewelry Portal BR

Killer's fantasy of violence was fuelled by gangsta rap

THE man who murdered banker John Monckton thought killing was acceptable after being "corrupted" by gangsta rap, his former friends have told the Standard.

Damien Hanson, 24, was being sentenced today at the Old Bailey after being found guilty of murdering Mr Monckton and leaving the financier's wife Homeyra for dead at their Chelsea home.

In his early teens Hanson idolised Tupac Shakur, the notorious New York rap star shot dead in 1996, and became obsessed with living the life of a gangster.

In his bedroom at White City Close, a children's care home, Hanson drank bottles of Dom Perignon champagne under posters of hiphop stars.

He kept an arsenal of knives under his bed - "a different knife for every day" - and his "pride and joy" was a thick gold chain with a chunky medallion engraved with his nickname, Omen. He funded his lifestyle by becoming a notorious street mugger and by dealing drugs.

One 23-year-old woman, who did not wish to be named, said: "Damien was never an angel but in his early teens he found an identity through hiphop and gangsta culture. It corrupted him and fuelled an obsession with violence, guns, knives, gold and diamonds.(Continue Reading)

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