Guilty of causing restaurant scene

4:06pm Thursday 15th November 2001

A BROMLEY recruitment consultant could face jail after causing an uproar when he could not pay a £895 restaurant bill.

Rupinder Singh, aged 24, of London Road, pleaded guilty to affray and common assault after hearing witnesses describe how he threatened staff and head-butted a table at the fashionable Titanic restaurant, in Brewer Street, central London.

Southwark Crown Court heard an evening's drinking on December 9 last year at Marco Pierre White's Titanic restaurant included four bottles of Dom Perignon champagne at a total cost of £600 and two bottles of Laurent Rose costing £130.

When his credit card was not authorised, manager Jo Flanigan said she approached Singh to ask if he had another form of payment.

She said: “If a gentleman stands up and says 'You f***ing bitch I am going to kill you,' and punches a glass partition, that is not normal. I was quite frightened.

“Everyone was looking at him and avoiding the area. He was very loud.”

She also accused Singh of trying to provoke staff to violence:

“He actually said, 'Come on, what are you going to do, beat me up because I am Asian?'

“I think he wanted someone to hit him so he did not have to pay the bill.”

Nicholas Wells, defending, said: “He was told very clearly the police were coming and was forced to wait, virtually against his own will.

“He was agitated and upset and was dealt with almost summarily by staff at the Titanic.”

Judge Robin Laurie adjourned sentencing until next month, calling for social inquiry reports, a statement on Singh's means and enquiring whether the outstanding tab had been settled.

He warned Singh he could face jail, saying all sentencing options were open.

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