A leading UK drill star is to face a hearing before a judge to decide if he was supplying cannabis on a “commercial scale”.
Digga D – real name Rhys Herbert – was arrested near Lincoln in the early hours of 21 February while broadcasting on Instagram Live.
Lincoln Crown Court heard he imported about 3kg (6.6lbs) of cannabis but there was “no evidence of wider criminality”.
Herbert, of Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London, pleaded guilty in May to a charge of smuggling cannabis relating to 11 July 2023. He also admitted supplying cannabis between 26 October 2022 and 21 February 2024.
But the prosecution did not accept the basis of his pleas and barrister Lauren Sales told the court earlier that it was the Crown’s case he was “supplying cannabis on a commercial scale”.
Hebert’s defence barrister, James Scobie KC, argued the rapper was only involved in social supply of cannabis and any suggestion of commercial transactions were “bravado”, the court heard.
Judge Simon Hirst adjourned the case for a Newton hearing to help the court decide which version of events it accepts before passing sentence. A date is yet to be fixed.
Herbert, 24, remains in custody at HMP Wormwood Scrubs.
