A man suspected of murdering rapper Jam Master Jay has been jailed for 17 years, after he was convicted of a string of robberies.

Ronald ‘Tinard’ Washington’s former girlfriend claims he confessed to killing the Run DMC rapper in a New York recording studio in October 2002, but the 40-year-old has never been charged with the murder.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York pushed for a more severe sentence for Washington, citing evidence connecting him to Jay’s murder and another killing he was rumored to have committed in 1995.

But Judge Nina Gershon refused to consider the two murders, telling the New York court on Wednesday, "One might think if it was such an overwhelming murder case, someone would have prosecuted him, instead of hanging a murder on a string of robberies with a BB gun."