US singer Chris Brown spared jail after pleading guilty over UK nightclub incident

LONDON (REUTERS) -- US singer Chris Brown was spared an immediate prison sentence in Britain on Monday for attacking a producer with a tequila bottle in a London nightclub in 2023.

Brown, 37, was given an eight-month suspended sentence at London’s Southwark Crown Court after he admitted a charge of affray over the attack on Abraham Diaw at the Tape nightclub in February 2023.

The R&B star and his vocal coach Omololu Akinlolu, 40, pleaded guilty in July, having denied more serious charges of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Judge Tony Baumgartner said: “This was serious, public violence. In your case, Brown, it involved the repeated use … of a bottle, including twice striking Diaw to his head.”

Brown’s suspended sentence means he does not immediately go to prison unless he commits another offence.

Some of Brown’s fans queued outside court from around 0700 GMT, about an hour before the building opened, and Brown thanked the judge before leaving the dock and nodding towards his supporters in the public gallery.

Brown, a two-time Grammy winner, was arrested in May 2025 having returned to Britain for the first time since the incident and was initially denied bail, throwing his worldwide “Breezy Bowl XX” tour into doubt.

But Brown was eventually released after promising to pay a £5 million ($6.68 million) security fee, allowing the tour to go ahead.

This court case is the latest involving Brown since he was charged with assaulting his then-partner Rihanna in 2009, with a photo of her bruised face making headlines around the world.

Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe said Brown pleaded guilty to the 2009 assault of Rihanna and was sentenced to five years probation. He also admitted a 2013 assault on a fan he was accused of punching when he asked for a photograph.