Liam Gallagher’s son and Ringo Starr’s grandson have been branded as “entitled” after appearing in court over a late-night brawl at a supermarket.
Gene Appleton Gallagher, 20, and Sonny Starkey, 21, were “young men thinking they can get what they want by misbehaving” when they fought shop staff at a London Tesco Express, Judge Joanna Greenberg said.
The fight kicked off at the store in Heath Street, Hampstead, just after midnight in May 2019.
Staff had tried to stop the pair’s friend, 21-year-old Noah Ponte, from leaving the shop with a £1.70 can of gin and tonic.
Sonny Starkey was said to have thrown ‘kicks and punches’
Ponte, a student at UCL and a former model, was unable to pay for the drink because it was outside the hours Tesco was licensed to sell alcohol, Wood Green Court heard.
However, he told the court he had paid for nuts of the same value, which he left in the shop, in an attempt to get around the licensing issue.
Staff were said to have started “grabbing” Ponte before Starkey and Gallagher threw “kicks and punches” at one worker, prosecutors said.
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One employee then managed to get Starkey in a headlock for “some minutes”, the court heard.
‘Strong case’ for self-defence
All three men were charged with affray, but Gallagher was also charged with racially aggravated assault by beating, and Starkey was charged with two counts of assault by beating.
Noah Ponte was found not guilty of theft
However, on Wednesday, when their trial was due to begin, new evidence came to light that showed there was a “strong case” Starkey was acting in self-defence and Gallagher was defending him, the court heard.
Ponte was found not guilty of theft at the end of a trial on Friday following 31 minutes of jury deliberation.
‘Completely out of order’
“Your behaviour on this occasion when you entered the Tesco store was, in my view, completely out of order,” Judge Greenberg said to Gallagher and Starkey.
“It’s hard enough when people running a late-night store encounter entitled young men thinking they can get what they want by misbehaving, and that’s what you did.”
She recorded not guilty pleas in relation to Gallagher and Starkey, and bound them over – meaning they have promised to “keep the peace and be of good behaviour” for 12 months or pay £500.