Rap star's double 'serving sentence'

Scotland Yard is investigating claims that the rap star Mark Morrison has been using a double to complete a community service order. It was reported at the weekend that the Leicester-born singer persuaded a close friend to carry out the work at a hostel for the homeless in West London.

The order was originally imposed by a judge at Leicester Crown Court after 24-year-old Morrison was convicted of violent conduct following a fracas outside a nightclub in 1994 during which a man died. Morrison appeared before a judge at Leicester Crown Court last October over non- completion of the sentence when he was fined after his lawyer blamed the pressures of fame. In a statement yesterday Scotland Yard said of the report in the Daily Mirror newspaper: "We have received information and inquiries are being made."