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The father of murdered schoolboy Jimmy Mizen believes his killer has “no remorse” after he was hauled back to prison for shamelessly boasting about the crime in his rap music.
Barry Mizen has said he fears prisoners like Jake Fahri are coming out “worse than they went in” after he was named in reports as a masked drill rapper known as TEN, whose songs include lyrics appearing to reference Jimmy’s murder in 2008.
He also hit out at the BBC for playing the drill rapper’s music.
Fahri, then 19, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 14 years for killing Jimmy in a southeast London bakery by throwing an oven dish that shattered and severed blood vessels in the 16-year-old’s neck.
He was released in 2023 after serving 15 years, but recalled to prison this week for breaching his licence conditions, after the violent contents of songs performed under the name TEN were exposed in reports in The Sun.
It also emerged that the masked rapper’s music has twice been showcased on the BBC’s 1Xtra platform, although not songs which featured lyrics about Jimmy.
Mr Mizen, 73, told The Independent that he and his wife Margaret, 72, had “naively” believed Fahri would have felt some remorse for their son’s murder.
“We just worked on that assumption for the past few years, but apparently we were completely wrong,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s any remorse there, I don’t think there’s any empathy there.”
The couple have dedicated their lives to preventing youth violence following Jimmy’s death, frequently work in prisons and delivering talks in schools through their charity, the Mizen Foundation.
He said they took it on “face value” that Fahri was fit for release when the Parole Board let him out in June 2023, although they did request lifetime exclusion zones to stop him from entering the parts of London where they and their family live.
The Probation Service said the Mizens “deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime” after he was recalled to prison on Friday.
Fahri is now expected to serve another year before he is put back in front of the parole board.
Mr Mizen believes the recent events have exposed “huge issues” with prison rehabilitation and believes Fahri left more aggressive than when he went in.
“He served 15 years before he was let out, only to behave in this way and land himself back inside for at least a year. You have to ask yourself what has happened in those 15 years. Where is the change?” he said.
“I believe he came out more aggressive than when he went in. I believe this is a huge issue, it isn’t isolated.
“If prison is only punitive, if it’s only about locking people up, that’s not going to help anyone. Where’s the rehabilitation? Where’s the monitoring?
“If people are coming out worse than they went in, then what’s going on?”
He also hit out at the taxpayer-funded BBC for promoting TEN’s music, which he fears glamourises violence, after two songs were played on 1Xtra.
“Why should this influential output be funded by the national taxpayer,” he said. “I have no issue with rap music, it is the content and what it’s trying to drive. It’s driving young people to want to imitate that lifestyle.”
The campaigner said an average of 15 young people are killed in the capital each year, adding: “That means fifteen young people are walking around the streets at the moment who won’t be there at the end of the year.”
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) spokesman said they take lyrics which glorify violence and distress victims “extremely seriously” and they are investigating the contents of TEN’s songs as priority.
A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said on Friday the prime minister was “deeply concerned at the situation” and “the significant additional stress that this will have caused to the family”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “This individual does not feature on any BBC playlists, we have never played – as we pointed out to the Sun – the lyrics they have printed. He’s had two other tracks played twice.
“1Xtra has no further plans to play his music, we were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
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