Blue singer Lee Ryan loses plane assault appeal
Image: BBC News
The boyband heart-throb who once sang "All Rise" is back in the headlines — this time for losing a court fight over a mid-air assault.
Lee Ryan, 43, of the British group Blue, has lost a High Court challenge to his conviction for a racially aggravated assault on a flight attendant. The offences happened in July 2022 after he drank a bottle of port on a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London.
His trial heard Ryan was slurring his words and staggering, and after being refused more alcohol, made remarks about cabin crew member Leah Gordon's appearance — calling her a "chocolate cookie" — and grabbed her wrists. A judge later called his High Court bid "frivolous."
Ryan was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence in September 2023. Earlier appeals partially succeeded: a conviction for threatening crew was thrown out in November 2024, but the assault conviction stood.
On Tuesday, Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed his final challenge. For a pop star who built a career on clean-cut charm, the saga has been a steady unspooling of that image.
With legal routes now exhausted, Ryan's record stands. The case is a reminder that fame offers no shield once the seat-belt sign is on.