Lee Ryan charged with assaulting his girlfriend

Lee Ryan charged with assaulting his girlfriend (Image credit: LANDOV/Press Association Images)

Police have confirmed that former Blue band member Lee Ryan has been charged with common assault after allegedly hitting his fiancee. Ryan, 27, is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' court on August 27 after the incident allegedly occurred in a car in London's West End this week. According to BBC Online, Ryan denies attacking Samantha Millar, 26, the mother of his son. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Lee Ryan, self-employed, of Henley-on-Thames, is due to appear on bail charged with common assault." A spokesman for Mr Ryan said: "Lee 100 per cent denies common assault. He will be fighting theses charges in court." Blue split in 2004 after selling more than 15 million albums. Ryan has since worked on his solo pop career, interspersed with appearances on shows such as I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and film roles.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.