Blue singer Lee Ryan appeals to overturn police officer assault conviction
Singer Lee Ryan has appealed against his conviction for drunkenly assaulting a police officer.
The 39-year-old singer allegedly bit a police officer during his arrest for racially assaulting a black flight attendant on a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London City Airport on 31 July last year.
Ryan – who was “slurring his words and staggering around” after drinking a bottle of port before boarding the plane – called Leah Gordon a “chocolate cookie”, before grabbing her by the wrists and saying: “I want your chocolate children.”
Lee Ryan at Westminster Magistrates’ Court with his mother Sheila
During his arrest at London City Airport, footage showed Ryan “snarling” and swearing at a PC Bryett after allegedly biting an officer as they tried to arrest him.
He was found guilty in January of racially aggravated common assault by beating and behaving in an abusive way towards the cabin crew member – and pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer by biting him.
But at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, he appealed to overturn the plea, saying he had been given bad advice from his solicitor Mike Rainford.
Ryan said he was acting in self-defence, when asked if he assaulted PC Bryett.
He said: “Who is that guy that died recently – George Floyd – because a police officer choked him?
“That’s what he did to me – he choked me. He tried to strangle me.”
‘He had me by the neck’
Ryan claimed that Mr Rainford made him feel like he “had to” plead guilty, “even though he [PC Bryett] had me by the neck”.
Keima Payton, representing the singer, told a magistrate that her client suffered from autistic spectrum disorder and had “slow processing skills” leading to “impairments in understanding what is said to him”, according to a psychological report.
Giving evidence, Ryan said he initially denied assaulting the police officer at a hearing in November where he admitted to being drunk on an aircraft, saying: “I didn’t do it – I didn’t bite him. That’s why I pleaded not guilty.”
On the morning of the next hearing in January, he said he was shown a video of him in an altercation with a police officer which he had been “begging” Mr Rainford to see “for months”.
“I asked him if there was more time because it felt so rushed, and he said there was no time,” Ryan told the court.
“It had become very clear that he either didn’t care or just wasn’t prepared. I realised Mike wasn’t great. He wasn’t doing his job properly – there were warning signs.”
Describing the moment he pleaded guilty, he said: “I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.
“There was no conviction – it wasn’t true. I was being made to do it.”
The hearing continues.
(L-R) Antony Costa, Duncan James, Simon Webbe and Lee Ryan of boyband Blue
Ryan shot to fame in 2001 with the boyband Blue.
Their debut song All Rise reached number four in the UK singles chart and topped the charts in New Zealand.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
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