PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: Millie Bowles
A violent thug jailed for beating and controlling his girlfriend has posted a tasteless rap video from behind bars.
Tyla Wanstall is serving a three-year sentence after admitting a string of offences, including threatening to kill the woman and leaving her fearing she would be thrown from a bridge.
But despite prisoners being banned from possessing mobile phones or accessing social media, the 29-year-old from Herne Bay has appeared in a video filmed inside a cell at HMP Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. In the clip, which has been viewed more than 40,000 on social media, he declares he has "no time for no dumb sl*t".
The Ministry of Justice has branded the footage "unacceptable" and launched an investigation, while Herne Bay and Sandwich MP Sir Roger Gale says the stunt "makes a mockery" of the prison system and "rubs salt in the wound" for Wanstall's victim.
"If I was the prison governor, I'd throw the book at him," the veteran Tory said. "This kind of abuse makes a mockery of the whole prison system - they treat it like a holiday camp.”
In the video, which has the caption “They can knock me down but they can’t keep me down”, Wanstall is seen standing inside a cell at the Category C prison wearing a grey T-shirt and shorts.
Introducing the clip, which has been viewed more than 40,000 times across Facebook and Instagram, he says: "It's your boy T.Y. New music coming soon as I land. Just a couple little teasers for ya. Large up HMP."
He then launches into a rap in which he talks about wanting to see his son after his release before making a derogatory remark about women.
The lyrics include: "Getting so sick and tired keep talking on this blue phone. Wanna step out, see my son, tell him 'look, who's home'.
"He'll jump up, I'm telling him, it's all about him now, no time for no dumb sl*t."
The reference has attracted particular criticism given the offences for which Wanstall was jailed.
In April, Canterbury Crown Court heard how he subjected his former partner to "regular and methodical" attempts to control her life, alongside repeated violence, threats and humiliation.
His abuse included spitting in her face, calling her a slag, punching her in the arm, face and stomach, striking her with a stool and repeatedly accusing her of cheating.
On one occasion he threatened to "snap her jaw" and kill their pet. During another outburst, he dragged her by the hair to the edge of a bridge, leaving her fearing she would be thrown over the railings before telling her she "wasn't worth going to jail for".
Wanstall was imprisoned for assault by beating, controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making a threat to kill.
During sentencing, the court heard he had been diagnosed with PTSD after discovering the bodies of his mother and teenage sister, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in his Whitstable burger van in 2023.
However, Judge Simon James said it was "difficult to equate" those mental health problems with the "protracted and serious abuse" inflicted on his former partner. The deaths of his mother and sister are also referenced in the prison rap video.
Sir Roger described the offending as "clearly very unpleasant" and said the footage highlighted the continuing problem of prisoners accessing mobile phones and social media from behind bars.
"It's all very well the Justice Department saying, 'We will ask them to take it down', when everybody is likely to have seen it, but what are they going to do about it?” he said.
"They actually ought to be instigating an inquiry and then taking appropriate action to make sure prisoners are not able to do this."
Prisoners are banned from possessing mobile devices, accessing the internet without supervision or operating social media accounts.
Sir Roger believes Wanstall should face extra time behind bars for recording and sharing the video from custody.
"It's just rubbing salt into the wound and doing it very deliberately," he said. "That in itself ought to be a punishable offence. So I think one of the possible tools that is readily available would be to simply say, 'You have just kissed your chance of parole goodbye'."
An MoJ spokesperson said: "Having a phone behind bars is unacceptable. We have ordered the immediate removal of the posts filmed in custody, and we are investigating how this was able to happen. We have invested £40 million in new security measures to clamp down on illicit items, and those who break prison rules can face extra time behind bars."
Wanstall is expected to be released in early 2027 after serving the custodial portion of his sentence.