A FORMER singer with The Pogues was beaten up after he allegedly offered a man money for sex in a pub lavatory, a court was told yesterday.
Shane MacGowan, 46, was left with a fractured cheekbone after Liam McInerney, 23, beat him to the floor and repeatedly kicked him. The former Pogues frontman had gone into the lavatories at the Joiners Arms in Belgravia, West London, on April 19, and put his arms around the scaffolder, the court was told.
McInerney said that he had been sexually abused as a youngster and saw red when the singer made the advance.The construction worker, of Forest Gate, East London, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on MacGowan and a second offence of grievous bodily harm against Karen Sprott in a pub in Hackney on February 1.
He had punched Ms Sprott, leaving her with a fractured jaw, when she told him that his mobile phone was ringing.
The court was told that McInerney began abusing cocaine in 2003 after he was told his mother had cancer.
Advertisement
In 1987 MacGowan reached No 2 with Fairytale of New York. He now performs with his latest band, the Popes.