Son of Liam Gallagher and grandson of Ringo Starr to face Tesco assault trial in March next year

Gene Gallagher outside Highbury Magistrates' Court

(Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Liam Gallagher’s son and Ringo Starr’s grandson will stand trial in March next year over a late-night fracas at a Tesco Express in Hampstead.

Gene Gallagher and Sonny Starkey are accused, alongside model Noah Ponte, of assaulting shop staff during a bout of alleged affray in May 2019.

The defendants, all now aged 20, have pleaded not guilty to the charges they face, and were told on Friday that their trial will be held at Wood Green crown court on March 28 next year.

Starkey, the grandson of the Beatles drummer, is accused of two counts of assault by beating on Tesco shopkeepers Hiran Rajput and Shvium Patel.

Sonny Starkey and Gene Gallagher leave Highbury magistrates court (Jeremy Selwyn)

Gallagher, the son of Oasis frontman Liam and All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, is accused of a racially aggravated assault on Mr Rajput, while Ponte, who has worked for modelling agency IMG, faces claims he stole a can of alcohol and attacked Mr Patel after racially abusing him.

All three men deny the charges, as well as an allegation of affray in the same incident on May 17, 2019.

Gene Gallagher, left, and The Prodigy founder Liam Howlett arrive in court last February (Jeremy Selwyn)

Gallagher and Ponte, both of Hampstead, and Starkey, of Camden, were all charged and appeared in court in February last year.

Judge Noel Lucas QC on Friday set the trial for March next year, with the case expected to take up to eight days in front of a crown court jury.

All three defendants will remain on bail until their trial.