Lee Ryan arrives at court as Blue star tries to reverse police assault plea
Blue star Lee Ryan, 39, is trying to reverse his plea for assaulting a police officer after he pleaded guilty to the assault and hurling racially abusive language at a Black flight attendant.
He was found guilty on January 12 at Ealing Magistrates’ Court of being drunk on an aircraft, assaulting a police officer by biting him as well as the abusive language used towards a black flight attendant.
He was “slurring his words and staggering around” after drinking a whole bottle of port before a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London City Airport on July 31 last year.
During the trial, the court heard how the Blue star told the Black cabin crew member: "I want your chocolate children," and asked her to kiss him.
In court, Ryan stated: "I'm not racist" and claimed it was "drunk banter" with no malice intended.
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The All Rise singer was spotted walking into Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday wearing a black suit, white shirt and a pair of dark sunglasses.
Ryan is currently awaiting sentencing but it's expected the Blue singer attempt to reverse the plea relating to the police officer during the hearing.
Lee was seen walking into Westminster Magistrates Court (GC Images)
Lee was found guilty in January (GC Images)Court staff previously confirmed an application has been made by Ryan's defence team to vacate the guilty plea for assault of an emergency worker.
The application means Ryan's sentencing, which was scheduled to take place at the end of February, has been placed on hold.
The singer was arrested in August 2022 and subsequently released a statement addressing the incident.
He opened up on his "struggles with alcohol" claiming he will "often say or do silly things as a result of that, which in turn has caused problems for myself and those around me".
"For that I want to apologise to everyone I have upset or offended," he said before added he "acted inappropriately on a flight to London".
"I want to say sorry to the airline staff, everyone on the flight, as well as my band mates, my family and our fans," Lee continued.
"The time has come for me to take ownership of the root cause of these problems and for that reason, I am reducing my schedule for the time being to seek professional help and spend time with my family.
"By starting this journey of working on my mental health I hope to emerge a better person for it."
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