Blue’s Lee Ryan is ‘assaulted by passenger on flight to Turkey’

Lee Ryan was reportedly attacked on a plane while on a flight to Turkey, when his bandmates allegedly rushed to his aid.

The Blue singer, 40, has claimed he suffered a leg injury after allegedly being pushed down a flight of stairs by a male passenger on their flight.

The boy band took to Instagram to share a joint statement about the alleged incident, which they say took place on a Turkish Airlines flight from Georgia to Istanbul.

It was alleged that Lee’s bandmates Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Antony Costa all came to his aid during the alleged attack.

They wrote: “On a flight from Georgia to Istanbul, Turkey on Turkish Airlines today (Saturday, July 8, 2023), Lee Ryan was physically assaulted by a male passenger.

Lee and the rest of the gang defended him from the attack, which continued after the plane landed when the passenger pushed Lee down a flight of stairs, injuring his leg in the process.

“Both parties have been approached by the police in Turkey and Lee has voluntarily made a victim impact statement with the support of the band.”

The tape related how the alleged attack happened because Lee put his feet up on the chair in what was considered a “culturally insensitive” action, of which he was unaware.

The statement continued: “At no time has Lee been arrested, detained or charged with any crime and after making his statement he was free to continue on his journey.

“The attack occurred after Lee put his feet up on the chair, which was deemed culturally insensitive and for which Lee has apologized for any unwitting transgression.”

MailOnline has contacted Turkish Airlines for comment.

It comes weeks after Lee won a bid to retract his guilty plea for biting a police officer – after telling the court he “has ADHD and autism” and that he had received bad advice from his previous lawyer.

The pop star was found guilty in January of a racist attack on a black British Airways flight attendant.

At a hearing in January, Lee was told that Lee “spoke his words and staggered” after drinking a bottle of port on July 31 last year before a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London City Airport.

After being denied more alcohol on the plane and told to return to his seat, Ryan made comments about handler Leah Gordon’s appearance, calling her a “chocolate cookie,” before grabbing her wrists.

Police footage showed Lee “growling” and cursing after allegedly attempting to bite a Pc Bryett as officers attempted to arrest him upon his arrival at the airport.

He was found guilty at Ealing Magistrates’ Court in January of racially aggravated common assault by beating the cabin crew member and behaving in an abusive manner while pleading guilty to assaulting a police officer by biting him.

But when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 13, Lee was told it would be “unjust” for him not to withdraw the guilty plea after claiming to the court that he had received bad advice from his former attorney Mike Rainford.

He chose to be tried at the Crown Court, the date and venue of which are yet to be confirmed.

Keima Payton, representing Lee, told a magistrate that her client suffered from an autistic spectrum disorder and had “slow processing skills,” leading to “impaired understanding of what was said to him,” according to a psychological report.

She told the court that body-worn images that might have helped Lee claim self-defense had only been presented to him shortly before his court appearance, meaning he was unable to think it through.

A doctor’s report on Lee concluded that the blue star has some communication limitations.

Lee gave evidence and said he initially denied assaulting the police officer at a hearing in November, where he admitted to being drunk on a plane and said, “I didn’t do it — I didn’t bite him.” That’s why I pleaded not guilty.’

He told the court that his previous lawyer assured him in the weeks that followed that the assault charges would be dropped before the next hearing.

The court heard that said his previous lawyer made him feel he had “no choice” but to plead guilty after watching the video.

Describing the moment when he pleaded guilty, he said, “I couldn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth. There was no belief – it wasn’t true. I was forced to do it.’

Deputy District Judge Tan Ikram concluded that it would be unfair if Lee’s plea of ​​guilt were not withdrawn, saying, “This is an unusual case because the defendant was represented by a fully competent lawyer.

“A perfectly competent attorney who was fully authorized to represent the defendant in court.

“I have heard nothing to suggest that he is not a skilled, experienced lawyer who works in the difficult conditions in which lawyers work.

“Unfortunately, things happen at the last minute. As an experienced practitioner, he would know that he would be criticized if he did not start at 10 a.m. due to pressure from courts to hear cases and use court time effectively.

“I’m not commenting on criticism of Mr. Rainford. Customers often have a different perception. When things go wrong, they often wonder what their advocates could have done differently, that’s the benefit of hindsight.

“I have a report that Mr. Ryan was diagnosed with ADHD prior to the procedure and then high-functioning autism.

“There are characteristics of those conditions, their spectrum. One of the challenges people with high-functioning autism can have is slow processing of information and responding inappropriately to what is said.

‘These are in fact characteristics of people with disorders that this court knows well.

‘If a public prosecutor lends a laptop and the public prosecutor stays with the laptop, there are 100 good reasons for that.

“It’s a situation that happens thousands of times and it’s what happens regularly when videos are viewed that day. Mr. Ryan got advice, he got the advice as instruction, that’s how he got it.

“In those circumstances, I really doubt whether it was an informed admission of guilt or following instructions.

“Ultimately, I’d think it unfair if he couldn’t retract his IOU so it’s retracted.”

Speaking of his recent diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, Lee described it as a “revelation.”

He said: ‘When I was diagnosed with Asperger’s it took me a long time to process it. “It was shocking, but once I took some time to process things, it made sense.

‘I always take things for granted, because that is part of the condition. I have had very bad people at work who have lied to me and taken advantage of me.

“It gives me insight into many more things in my life that I haven’t been able to process.”