Blue singer Lee Ryan will be sentenced next month after a court found him guilty on several charges, including assault, during drunken behaviour on a British Airways flight.
He was found guilty of racially aggravated assault after Ealing Magistrates’ Court heard he called cabin crew worker Leah Gordon a racial slur, including telling her he wanted to have her ‘chocolate children’.
Afterwards, he told police he’d send Ms Gordon some tickets to a Blue concert to make amends.
The 39-year-old had already admitted being drunk when he was arrested at London City Airport following an incident on a flight from Glasgow in July 2022.
At the time, a Met Police spokesman told the Mirror: “At around 16:40hrs on Sunday 31 July, officers met a flight that had arrived at London City Airport from Glasgow.
“A 39-year-old man was arrested for a public order offence. He was taken into custody at an east London police station and was released under investigation the following day.”
The court heard he’d been ‘slurring his words and staggering around’ after drinking a bottle of port before the flight.
Mr Ryan told the court his actions were ‘playful’ and he wasn’t a racist.
He had also demanded another cabin crew member upgrade him to business class, claiming he was being harassed because he was famous.
Sky News reports he was found guilty of being drunk on an aircraft, racially aggravated common assault by beating, behaving in an abusive way towards the cabin crew member and assaulting a police officer by biting.
He had previously apologised on the band’s Instagram for his ‘inappropriate’ behaviour, saying he has struggled with alcohol.
Along with Antony Costa, Duncan James and Simon Webbe, Mr Ryan formed the boy band Blue in 2000 and had hits including All Rise and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.
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