The rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been denied bail again by a judge as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges.

It means the musician and producer, also known as P Diddy, will stay jailed, despite a $50m bid to be released.

Combs was arrested on suspicion of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in September. He has been imprisoned for the last 10 weeks.

The hip-hop mogul has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the aid of a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence – including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

He says his sexual relationships were consensual, and denies all wrongdoing.

This was the 55-year-old’s fourth attempt at being released before his trial. His lawyers made two requests in the days after he was charged, followed by an appeal which was denied in October.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian announced the latest bail rejection decision in a written order, after hearing arguments during a two-hour hearing on 22 November in Manhattan federal court.

Combs is currently in custody in Manhattan awaiting a criminal trial scheduled to begin on 5 May next year.

He is also facing several civil cases, with one lawyer saying in October that his firm was representing more than 100 accusers.

Read more:
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Robbie Williams has said people from the 90s “shouldn’t be held accountable for how we think and we feel now”.

The Rock DJ singer attended the European premiere of his biopic Better Man in London, calling it one of his “proudest moments” of his career to date.

Despite the film shining a light on the lows connected to being a young pop star, he told Sky News he holds no grievances for the past.

“People from the 90s shouldn’t be held accountable for how we think and we feel now,” he said.

“We didn’t know and now we do. So things can and will change. And I can already feel it around me, how I am treated and how we treat each other.

“But you can’t know what you don’t know, and we just didn’t know in the 90s and that has to be okay.”

Portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee, the film follows the rise, fall and resurrection of Robbie Williams as an artist – inspired by how the former Take That member views himself.

Williams said after watching the film a number of times already, there is one part that continues to affect him.

“There’s the bit with Nicole Appleton that always gets me because she’s a wonderful person, she’s an angel,” he said.

“All the other people that I threw under the bus in the film, they did something to me…. I did something to her. I wasn’t a great boyfriend and I feel great shame about that. But we’re good [now]. I’ve got great love for her and she has for me, too.”

Directed by The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, the two-hour 11 minutes musical includes extended dance sequences and refreshed versions of his back catalogue of songs.

Gracey believes it is Williams’ vulnerability that allows this film to stand out from the other biopics.

“Not a lot of us know what it’s like to stand in front of 135 guys and perform, but I think strangely he has this incredibly relatable story,” he said.

“The thing I value the most is that he’s been really able to go to those dark places, which I think a lot of music biopics suffer from being sanitised or watered down.”

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He added: “No one could accuse this thing of those things, but I think you feel the light so much more when you go to those places.”

Better Man is in cinemas on 26 December.

Rapper Slowthai raped two women at a house party after a gig, along with a friend, a court has been told.

The Grammy-nominated star, whose real name is Tyron Frampton, 29, and his co-accused Alex Blake-Walker, 27, are accused of raping the two women at a flat in Oxford on 8 September, 2021.

Both men deny the charges, and say all sexual activity was with the participation and consent of the women.

Frampton, 29, arrived at Oxford Crown Court for the second day of his trial accompanied by his wife, singer Anne-Marie.

WARNING: Allegations that some readers may find upsetting

The alleged attack is said to have taken place following Frampton’s performance at The Bullingdon music venue in the city, the night before.

Oxford Crown Court heard that one of the complainants – described as a “huge fan” of the rapper – had seen Frampton in a restaurant before the show and after speaking with him had been added to the VIP list.

Heather Stangoe, prosecuting, told the jury that after the gig this complainant met a group of friends – including the second complainant – at Frampton’s tour bus.

Ms Stangoe told the jury the “sole purpose” of Frampton and Blake-Walker going to the house party “was to secure sexual gratification”.

‘High-fiving’ and ‘tag teams’

She said: “It mattered not to them whether the subjects of their attention consented or not. As it happened the two women in this case did not but that did not matter to these two defendants.”

She alleged the women were raped simultaneously at one point, with the defendants said to have “high-fived, discussed ‘tag teams’ and contemplated swapping the girls”.

She went on: “Their behaviour whilst sexually assaulting two females – who they had isolated from their friends – the encouragement and the assistance they gave one another when they became concerned that the females would run away has resulted in them being jointly charged with oral and vaginal rape.”

Ms Stangoe says Frampton met the second complainant, who had not been at the performance, at the Bullingdon Bar, and shared a shot of tequila with her.

She said she “had been drinking for many hours” and had also taken ketamine and cocaine and continued to drink and take drugs until just before the incident.

The prosecution said that although she was intoxicated, rendering her vulnerable, her state did not mean that she was incapable of consenting.

‘No phones, and no boys’

She says the girls declined an invitation to remain on the tour bus and travel to the next tour date in Southampton, and instead went to their friend’s house.

Ms Stangoe says Frampton stipulated that there would be “no phones, and no boys,” before agreeing to attend the party, a restriction she says suggested Frampton and Blake-Walker’s “mindset from the outset”.

The prosecutor said Frampton, Blake-Walker and two other men went with the group of girls to the property. She said the attack took place on a flat roof through a window of the property, and “happened very quickly”.

When the attack was interrupted, after initially being impeded by Blake-Walker holding the window shut, she said: “Frampton immediately jumped from the roof into the garden, ran through and out of the house. Blake-Walker left the property. The other two men also left.”

Ms Stangoe says the incident was reported to the police that night, after which the defendants were arrested and interviewed, denying the charges.

‘The effect of celebrity’

The prosecution alleges Frampton had twice raped one of the complainants while being encouraged by Blake-Walker.

Blake-Walker is accused of raping the other complainant while being encouraged by Frampton.

It is said they both sexually assaulted the woman Frampton is alleged to have raped.

In opening remarks to the jury, Patrick Gibbs KC, representing Frampton, suggested the events that night between his client and one of the complainants were consensual.

He said there was a difference between on the one hand “willingly participating in something which is spontaneous and chaotic and in the excitement of the intoxication of the moment and on the other regretting it afterwards”.

He also said “the effect of celebrity” may have led people to “enthusiastically do things they wouldn’t otherwise do”.

Sheryl Nwosu, representing Blake-Walker, said her client had always denied forcing one of the women to engage in sexual activity, and denied any sexual contact with the woman Frampton is accused of raping.

Frampton, who was nominated for a Grammy in 2021 and a Mercury prize in 2019, was removed from the Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading festival line-up after being charged last year.

The trial – which is expected to last three weeks – continues.