{"id":2045406,"date":"2026-07-15T17:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2045406"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:58:07","slug":"blue-singer-lee-ryan-to-be-sentenced-for-racially-aggravated-assault-on-air-steward-after-losing-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2045406","title":{"rendered":"Blue singer Lee Ryan to be sentenced for racially aggravated assault on air steward after losing appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lee-ryan@2000&#215;1270.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2749694\" class=\"post-2749694 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>News<\/span><i class=\"tdb-bread-sep td-icon-right\"><\/i><span>Music News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Blue singer Lee Ryan to be sentenced for racially aggravated assault on air steward after losing appeal<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The incident took place during a flight in 2022, and the singer has admitted that he was intoxicated at the time<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Liberty Dunworth<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-07-15T18:58:07+01:00\">15th July 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- .\/block --><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span8\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure>\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lee-ryan@2000x1270-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Lee Ryan of the boyband Blue\" title=\"lee-ryan@2000x1270\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Lee Ryan of the boyband Blue. CREDIT: Pedro Becerra\/Redferns\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_83 article-content-row vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Blue singer Lee Ryan is set to be sentenced for a racially aggravated assault on an air steward, after losing an appeal to clear his name.<\/p>\n<p>The boyband member appeared in front of a court, accused of telling a member of the British Airways cabin crew that she was like a \u201csweet chocolate chip cookie\u201d. The incident took place in July 2022, with him admitting that he was drunk on the flight.<\/p>\n<p>The following year saw him convicted of racially aggravated assault. At first, Ryan was given a 12-month suspended sentence in 2023, however, this was later revoked as the singer made a bid to overturn his conviction.<\/p>\n<p>The appeal to clear his name was rejected by the judge, and Ryan later took the case to the High Court \u2013 objecting to the crown court\u2019s refusal to allow an appeal to High Court judges. The move was called \u201cfrivolous\u201d and rejected by Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Johnson, and the case was sent back to the crown court.<\/p>\n<p>The flight in 2022 was on July 31 and saw the singer travel from Glasgow to London. During the journey, the admittedly-drunk Ryan allegedly physically touched the steward after she told him to return to his seat, and also made the inappropriate \u201cchocolate chip cookie\u201d comments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Blue singer Lee Ryan loses plane assault appeal \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/wAR7GfBG6Y pic.twitter.com\/458Us4eevu<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BBC London (@BBCLondonNews) July 14, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The steward alleges that \u201che grabbed both her wrists [and] leaned in as if to kiss her\u201d, but at an appeal at Isleworth Crown Court in 2024, Ryan denied the claims of grabbing her wrists (via <em>The Independent<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>He instead argued that he was \u201ctouching her wrists with an open palm and said that was by way of an apology\u201d after realising the comments were inappropriate and unwanted.<\/p>\n<p>This, judges said, was \u201cdifferent from the account that he gave in the interview\u201d with police after his arrest, and they added that it was \u201ccommon ground that he reached out his hands and physically touched her\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan initially said he did grab the steward\u2019s wrists, but later denied the claims and alleged that he had been \u201cmisled\u201d by the police (via <em>BBC News<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>The singer\u2019s lawyers have argued that the Crown Court judge who declined to refer the case had drawn an inaccurate inference from his police interview, however two judges argued against this claim \u2013 saying that it was their duty to weigh the picture painted by the steward compared to that from Ryan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was entitled to rely on the inconsistency between Mr Ryan\u2019s account in the interview, which coincided with [the steward\u2019s] allegation that he had grabbed her wrists, and the account he gave in evidence,\u201d they shared (as per <em>BBC News<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe essential reasoning of the court was that it believed [the plaintiff], who had been sober at the time and who was a consistent and compelling witness, and they disbelieved Mr Ryan who had been drunk at the time and had been inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan is now set to be sentenced by the crown court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Blue<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_89 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<div id=\"taboola-below-article\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span4 td-is-sticky\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-sidebar  tdi_92 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after losing an appeal to clear his name.<\/p>\n<p>The boyband member appeared in front of a court, accused of telling a member of the British Airways cabin crew that she was like a \u201csweet chocolate chip cookie\u201d. The incident took place in July 2022, with him admitting that he was drunk on the flight.<\/p>\n<p>The following year saw him convicted of racially aggravated assault. At first, Ryan was given a 12-month suspended sentence in 2023, however, this was later revoked as the singer made a bid to overturn his conviction.<\/p>\n<p>The appeal to clear his name was rejected by the judge, and Ryan later took the case to the High Court \u2013 objecting to the crown court\u2019s refusal to allow an appeal to High Court judges. The move was called \u201cfrivolous\u201d and rejected by Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Johnson, and the case was sent back to the crown court.<\/p>\n<p>The flight in 2022 was on July 31 and saw the singer travel from Glasgow to London. During the journey, the admittedly-drunk Ryan allegedly physically touched the steward after she told him to return to his seat, and also made the inappropriate \u201cchocolate chip cookie\u201d comments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Blue singer Lee Ryan loses plane assault appeal \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/wAR7GfBG6Y pic.twitter.com\/458Us4eevu<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BBC London (@BBCLondonNews) July 14, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The steward alleges that \u201che grabbed both her wrists [and] leaned in as if to kiss her\u201d, but at an appeal at Isleworth Crown Court in 2024, Ryan denied the claims of grabbing her wrists (via <em>The Independent<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>He instead argued that he was \u201ctouching her wrists with an open palm and said that was by way of an apology\u201d after realising the comments were inappropriate and unwanted.<\/p>\n<p>This, judges said, was \u201cdifferent from the account that he gave in the interview\u201d with police after his arrest, and they added that it was \u201ccommon ground that he reached out his hands and physically touched her\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan initially said he did grab the steward\u2019s wrists, but later denied the claims and alleged that he had been \u201cmisled\u201d by the police (via <em>BBC News<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>The singer\u2019s lawyers have argued that the Crown Court judge who declined to refer the case had drawn an inaccurate inference from his police interview, however two judges argued against this claim \u2013 saying that it was their duty to weigh the picture painted by the steward compared to that from Ryan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was entitled to rely on the inconsistency between Mr Ryan\u2019s account in the interview, which coincided with [the steward\u2019s] allegation that he had grabbed her wrists, and the account he gave in evidence,\u201d they shared (as per <em>BBC News<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe essential reasoning of the court was that it believed [the plaintiff], who had been sober at the time and who was a consistent and compelling witness, and they disbelieved Mr Ryan who had been drunk at the time and had been inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan is now set to be sentenced by the crown court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/blue-singer-lee-ryan-to-be-sentenced-for-racially-aggravated-assault-on-air-steward-after-losing-appeal-3957190&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lee-ryan@2000&#215;1270.jpg&#8221;] NewsMusic News Blue singer Lee Ryan to be sentenced for racially aggravated assault on air steward after losing appeal The incident took place during a flight in 2022, and the singer has admitted that he was intoxicated at the time By Liberty Dunworth 15th July 2026 Lee Ryan of the boyband Blue. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2045406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2045406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2045406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2045406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2045406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}