Blue singer Lee Ryan is due to return to court for sentencing after losing a High Court challenge against his conviction for a racially aggravated assault on a flight attendant.
The 43-year-old had been attempting to overturn his conviction relating to an incident on a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London City Airport in July 2022.
During his trial, the court heard that Ryan had consumed a bottle of port before the flight and was slurring his words and staggering around the aircraft.
British band BLUE's Lee Ryan. Avis De Miranda, Shutterstock
After being refused further alcohol and asked to return to his seat, Ryan made comments about the appearance of cabin crew member Leah Gordon, describing her as a "sweet chocolate chip cookie". He was also accused of grabbing her wrists during the incident.
Ryan was found guilty at Ealing Magistrates' Court in January 2023 of racially aggravated common assault and behaving in an abusive way towards a member of cabin crew.
He was later given a 12-month suspended prison sentence at Isleworth Crown Court in September 2023.
Ryan appealed his convictions at the Crown Court. While part of the challenge was successful, his appeal against the assault conviction was rejected.
A judge later refused to refer the case to the High Court, describing the application as "frivolous". Ryan then brought a separate legal challenge against that decision.
On Tuesday, Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed the High Court challenge, meaning Ryan will now return to court to be sentenced.
The judges noted that Ryan's appeal against his convictions had previously been heard in November 2023, when his original sentence was set aside.
British band BLUE (members Lee Ryan, Antony Costa, Duncan James and Simon Webbe) perform in Belarus in 2014. Avis De Miranda, Shutterstock
In November 2024, a judge sitting alongside two magistrates allowed Ryan's appeal against a conviction for threatening a member of aircraft crew, but rejected his appeal against the assault conviction.
During the appeal hearing, the court considered an inconsistency in Ryan's evidence over whether he had grabbed or only touched Ms Gordon's wrists. Ryan said he had been misled by police during his interview.
His legal team argued that the Crown Court judge who refused to refer the case to the High Court had wrongly drawn an adverse inference from his police interview.
However, the High Court judges rejected that argument, saying the Crown Court had been entitled to assess the different accounts given by Ryan and Ms Gordon.
They said: "In doing so, it was entitled to rely on the inconsistency between Mr Ryan's account in interview, which coincided with Ms Gordon's allegation that he had grabbed her wrists, and the account he gave in evidence.
"The essential reasoning of the court was that it believed Ms Gordon, 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."
The judges concluded there was no error in the decision not to refer the matter to the High Court, and the case will now proceed to sentencing.
