How music lyrics and an old friend brought down killer rapper

Hours after knifing a total stranger to death, Ellis Heather went home and began his victory lap.

He partied with friends, laughing as they listened to music by his victim's brother, a rapper called Morrisson, who has enjoyed success in the UK singles and R&B charts.

Later, the 25-year-old decided to get behind the microphone himself and record a boastful drill song taunting those who knew the man he murdered.

For six years, it appeared Heather had got away with fatally stabbing Stephen Morrisson to death on 23 June 2020.

But on the six-year anniversary of the murder on Tuesday, a jury convicted him of the crime at the Old Bailey.

Heather stabbed Morrison within minutes of him disrupting a drill music video he was shooting with big snakes and a Komodo dragon, while wearing a stab vest, in Epping Forest, Essex.

Morrisson, a content creator known as Zero Ls, meaning zero losses, was already in the Wake Valley Pond car park when filming began and may have been trying to get involved, it is understood.

The BBC can now reveal Heather is already serving a prison sentence of seven years and nine months for firearms offences, imposed in July 2023 after a dramatic police chase through London.

Jurors in Heather's four-week trial were not told he was a member of the west London gang CGM – also known as 1011, nor that he was a drill rapper called Rack5.

Heather, also known as Rackz, of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, will be sentenced on 17 July.

On the day of the murder, Heather had assembled a videographer, models and live reptiles to be used as props in the video he was shooting in the car park, near Loughton, with fellow rapper Yonas Girma.

Morrisson, who regularly uploaded content to Snapchat and YouTube and had featured in some of his brother's music videos, crossed paths with his killer there.

Within minutes, Morrisson was fatally stabbed.

Jurors heard he had been acting "a bit weird", banging his head on a tree and driving at members of the group.

A witness told the trial how Heather was angered by Morrisson's erratic behaviour and stabbed him in the torso during a confrontation.

Morrisson fled from the scene bare-chested and bloodied, but died in hospital two hours later at about 22:00 BST.

Police used CCTV and ANPR cameras to trace Morrisson's murderer to the scene and arrested Heather and Girma weeks later, but it was not until July 2025 that they were charged.

Girma, now a reformed gang member and wildlife influencer who goes by the moniker Ty from the Wyld, was found not guilty of murder in the same trial on Wednesday.

Officers had been contacted by a friend of Heather, who the BBC has agreed not to name, who witnessed the stabbing and was ready to give a full testimony, five years on.

Detectives also used lines from one of Heather's drill songs as evidence against him.

"OL got wet and he's dead (Wet, wet, wet, wet), I see a man get stabbed and start holding his neck," he rapped.

Prosecutors said this was not just artistic expression, it was boasting about the stabbing of Morrisson and that "OL" referred to him as Zero Ls.

Dr Simon Harding, the director of the Next Gen Centre for Gang Research, told the BBC: "Wet signifies blood and to be 'got wet' means to be killed or bloodied.

"Wet, wet, wet is an onomatopoeic way of suggesting there was a lot of blood. It's emphatic, boastful - it gives a sense of overkill."

Harding described CGM as a "middle-tier" gang who were known for violence, adding the song would most likely have been posted online for "provocation" so Heather could elevate his status within the group.

However, the use of drill music as criminal evidence has been controversial. Some academics say it should only be treated as entertainment.

When the lyrics were put to Heather in police interview, he made no comment.

The BBC understands Girma privately urged his co-defendant to hand himself in for Morrisson's murder, accusing him of delivering the fatal wound.

The evidence mounted against Heather after his friend gave a full account of what she saw during and after the stabbing.

She described how they all stayed at Heather's house in Hamilton Gardens, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, after it happened.

Heather partied and laughed while playing songs by Morrisson's rapper brother, boasting about what happened, jurors heard.

The witness told the trial that Girma came running downstairs the following morning saying "he's died, he's died", having seen Morrison's death on the news.

Heather, the witness said, later drove her to a wooded area and threw a red-stained cloth out the window.

She said he started vomiting as he drove away and told her "this is my first M", said to be slang for murder.

Her testimony was backed up by ANPR data held by the police, which showed the movement of cars Heather was in, prosecutors said.

Essex Police said detectives analysed more than 200 hours of CCTV footage and evidence gathered from 50 phones and five vehicles during their investigation.

Heather faces a life sentence, mandatory for murders, when he returns to court in July.

Det Ch Insp Greg Wood, the senior investigating officer from Essex Police, said: "This verdict finally delivers justice for Stephen and his family, six years after his life was so tragically taken.

"They have shown immense strength and patience as this case has progressed – often away from the public view – and our thoughts remain firmly with them."

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