Blue singer Lee Ryan is about to be sentenced for a racially aggravated assault on an air steward, after dropping an attraction to clear his title.
The boyband member appeared in entrance of a courtroom, accused of telling a member of the British Airways cabin crew that she was like a “candy chocolate chip cookie”. The incident befell in July 2022, with him admitting that he was drunk on the flight.
The next 12 months noticed him convicted of racially aggravated assault. At first, Ryan was given a 12-month suspended sentence in 2023, nevertheless, this was later revoked because the singer made a bid to overturn his conviction.
The attraction to clear his title was rejected by the choose, and Ryan later took the case to the Excessive Court docket – objecting to the crown courtroom’s refusal to permit an attraction to Excessive Court docket judges. The transfer was known as “frivolous” and rejected by Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Johnson, and the case was despatched again to the crown courtroom.
The flight in 2022 was on July 31 and noticed the singer journey from Glasgow to London. In the course of the journey, the admittedly-drunk Ryan allegedly bodily touched the steward after she informed him to return to his seat, and in addition made the inappropriate “chocolate chip cookie” feedback.
Blue singer Lee Ryan loses airplane assault attraction ➡️ https://t.co/wAR7GfBG6Y pic.twitter.com/458Us4eevu
— BBC London (@BBCLondonNews) July 14, 2026
The steward alleges that “he grabbed each her wrists [and] leaned in as if to kiss her”, however at an attraction at Isleworth Crown Court docket in 2024, Ryan denied the claims of grabbing her wrists (by way of The Unbiased).
He as a substitute argued that he was “touching her wrists with an open palm and mentioned that was by the use of an apology” after realising the feedback had been inappropriate and undesirable.
This, judges mentioned, was “completely different from the account that he gave within the interview” with police after his arrest, and so they added that it was “frequent floor that he reached out his palms and bodily touched her”.
Ryan initially mentioned he did seize the steward’s wrists, however later denied the claims and alleged that he had been “misled” by the police (by way of BBC Information).
The singer’s attorneys have argued that the Crown Court docket choose who declined to refer the case had drawn an inaccurate inference from his police interview, nevertheless two judges argued towards this declare – saying that it was their responsibility to weigh the image painted by the steward in comparison with that from Ryan.
“It was entitled to depend on the inconsistency between Mr Ryan’s account within the interview, which coincided with [the steward’s] allegation that he had grabbed her wrists, and the account he gave in proof,” they shared (as per BBC Information).
“The important reasoning of the courtroom was that it believed [the plaintiff], who had been sober on the time and who was a constant and compelling witness, and so they disbelieved Mr Ryan who had been drunk on the time and had been inconsistent.”
Ryan is now set to be sentenced by the crown courtroom.
