{"id":544065,"date":"2026-04-22T04:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544065\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:56:14","slug":"x-factor-finalist-makes-heart-sign-in-court-as-shes-accused-of-hitting-influencer-with-car-leaving-her-fighting-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544065\/","title":{"rendered":"X Factor finalist makes heart sign in court as she’s accused of hitting influencer with car – leaving her fighting for life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Gabrielle<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Carrington, aka RielleUK on Instagram, is accused of attempted murder of another social media influencer.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nInstagram\/PA<\/p>\n

A former X Factor finalist accused of attempting to murder a social media influencer by hitting her with a car in central London made a heart sign to her family as she was remanded in custody.\n<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Carrington, 29, from Manchester , allegedly tried to kill Klaudia Zakrzewska outside the Inca nightclub in Argyll Street, Soho, at 4.30am on Sunday.<\/p>\n

She is accused of dangerous driving, being nearly twice the drink-drive limit, and causing injuries to two other people \u2013 a third woman and a security guard \u2013 who were also hit by her Mercedes.<\/p>\n

At Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on Tuesday, Carrington, dressed in grey, stood with her hands on her hips as District Judge Nina Tempia remanded her in custody.<\/p>\n

\"Gabrielle<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Carrington appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nPA<\/p>\n

\"Klaudia<\/p>\n

Klaudia Zakrzewska was critically injured in the crash.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nInstagram<\/p>\n

Carrington, who has more than 365,000 followers on Instagram under the handle RIELLEUK, made it to the X Factor live finals in 2013 as one of the three members of Miss Dynamix.<\/p>\n

Ms Zakrzewska, who is in her 30s, is a TikTok and Instagram influencer who goes by the name Klaudiaglam.<\/p>\n

The judge ordered that Carrington is held in prison until the next court hearing at the Old Bailey on May 19.<\/p>\n

Carrington \u2013 described in court as \u201csocial media influencer\u201d who makes regular trips to the United Arab Emirates \u2013 made a heart sign with her hands towards friends and family in the packed public gallery as she was led out of the dock and back to the cells.<\/p>\n

\"Carrington<\/p>\n

Carrington made it to the X Factor live finals in 2013 as one of the three members of Miss Dynamix.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy<\/p>\n

Read more: Teenage boy charged with arson over synagogue attack<\/a><\/p>\n

Family and friends of Ms Zakrzewska also attended the court hearing.<\/p>\n

Footage of the incident circulating online shows a woman getting into a black car before it surges forward, striking Ms Zakrzewska who goes under the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Outlining the allegations, prosecutor Rizwan Amin told the court: \u201cIn the early hours of Sunday morning, April 19, ambulance services and police were called to Argyll Street for reports that a woman had been run over.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers had attended at 5am, and also London Ambulance Service were on the scene.<\/p>\n

The scene can only be described as lots of people shouting, it could be described as a melee, so to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany individuals who were there were from a nearby nightclub including security staff members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe full extent of the incident wasn\u2019t appreciated at the time officers had attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther checks of CCTV show that Ms Carrington had arrived in Argyll Street in her car, which was nearby to the Inca nightclub.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time, she seemed to have an altercation with a male as she exited her car.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis altercation escalated, involving several other members of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecurity staff tried to intervene to separate those involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Carrington was then seen to re-enter the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Amin said the vehicle \u201cimmediately moved off and sharply mounted the pavement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this manoeuvre, the vehicle has struck Ms Zakrzewska who was position to the front side of the vehicle and she was dragged forwards and dropped between the vehicle and a metal bike rack\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the vehicle kept moving forward, it fully took her underneath the vehicle and at the same time had struck a security member of staff, Anoush Chyche, who was on the pavement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police cordon on Argyll Street.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

It is said Carrington reversed the car backwards as Ms Zakrzewska emerged from under the vehicle laying prone on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the manoeuvre, a Ms Latisha Armstrong was also hit by the vehicle and suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in her wrist area,\u201d said Mr Amin.<\/p>\n

The incident happened on the Soho street which is home to the London Palladium theatre.<\/p>\n

Carrington, of Broadfield Road, Manchester, has been charged with attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, dangerous driving and drink driving.<\/p>\n

She did not enter any pleas during Tuesday\u2019s court hearing.<\/p>\n

Ms Zakrzewska remains in a life-threatening condition in hospital, the Metropolitan Police said on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

The force said Mr Chyche, in his 50s, has suffered \u201clife-changing injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the court charges, Carrington allegedly had 61 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath when she tested after the incident.<\/p>\n

After the charges were announced, David Malone, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the CPS in London North, said: \u201cWe remind all concerned that proceedings against the defendant are active and that she has the right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google Gabrielle Carrington, aka RielleUK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-544065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}