A RAPPER with a history of violence filmed himself threatening a transgender woman and shouting abuse before uploading the video to social media.

Tyrone Castello, 41, of Trinity Avenue, approached the victim when she was walking alone on Westcliff Avenue.

Castello recorded the victim on his phone as he verbally abused her, including derogatory language about the victim’s gender, and threatened to harm her.

The grime artist, who self publishes his own recordings online, then uploaded the footage onto social media the next day.

Castello, who has a history of violence including robbery and grievous bodily harm, admitted one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence on the first day of his trial which was due to start on May 22 this year.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison and ordered to pay £250 compensation, as well as £515 in costs for the incident which took place on July 25.

Det Supt Scott Cannon, Essex Police’s lead for hate crime, said: “We cannot underestimate the importance of the work that charities like Transpire do for the transgender community.

“With their help, and the aid of other groups in our communities, we’ve been able to appoint 500 ambassadors across more than 50 hate incident reporting centres across the county.

“Reports of hate crime against transgender people are rising and I would urge victims to continue to come forward and report these offences against them so that we can offer support, identify offenders and bring them to justice.”

Castello has a history of violent offending including, possessing a knife, grievous bodily harm and robbery.

The rapper, who goes by the stage name Red Rum, was jailed for one year and nine months in June 2017 for carrying a sword disguised as a walking stick after claims he was driven to paranoia by internet trolls, but was released early.

Earlier that year, he appeared on a Channel 5 documentary Inside the Gang, talking about his experiences in London gangs and his efforts to make it as a rapper.

Anyone who has been the victim of a hate crime is encouraged to call Essex Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.