A drunken British man who had sex with his girlfriend in an airplane toilet before forcing the flight to be diverted when he became abusive was jailed today.
Trevor Blake, 44, and his partner Nicola Fitzgerald, 27, had to be restrained on board a British Airways flight from Gatwick to Kingston, Jamaica.
The couple later sold their story to a national newspaper for £3,000, in which they boasted of how they twice made love on the Boeing 777.
A member of the cabin crew had first noticed the pair was acting drunk. Fitzgerald gyrated her hips on Blake’s groin as they sat on a seat reserved for cabin crew.
Blake flew into a rage with the cabin-crew member, Ian Walker, when they were told they were not being served with any more alcohol. They had downed two cans of beers and eight quarter sized bottles of wine.
Daniel Robinson, prosecuting at Hove Crown Court, said: “Mr Blake took great exception to being spoken to in this way. He became aggressive and rather obnoxious in his dealings with Mr Walker.
“He swore at him and said, ‘Who the fuck are you to tell me when I’m drunk?’ He called Mr Walker a fucking cunt and was rather voluble and aggressive in the way he spoke to Mr Walker.”
Mr Robinson said that Mr Walker tried to deal with the situation calmly and returned to the galley to speak to a colleague, Gillian Park, before Blake entered.
“They spoke about Mr Blake and he came into the galley and started to abuse Miss Park in an awful way…” Mr Robinson said.
“It seems that having said his piece, Mr Blake turned on his heels and went back to his seat.”
When Blake was issued with a final warning on a piece of paper about his behaviour, he scrunched it up and threw it at the member of cabin crew who had handed it to him.
Mr Robinson said at this point, the plane started to go through turbulence and seat-belts signs flashed up. But Blake and Fitzgerald instead got up to go to the same toilet together.
He said: “Mr Walker told Mr Blake once more not to walk around the plane when the seatbelt signs came on, and Mr Blake swore and screamed at him.”
Blake raised his hand at Mr Walker, and he was promptly restrained in handcuffs and leg restraints, but continued to direct abuse at Mr Walker.
Fitzgerald then became aware of the commotion at the back of the plane and she, too, became abusive, leading to her becoming restrained as well, Mr Robinson told the court.
The plane was later diverted to Bermuda. The couple, of Luton, Bedfordshire, were taken off the plane and sent back to the UK, where they were arrested and charged following the incidents on December 5, 2005.
Blake admitted affray and Fitzgerald pleaded guilty to drunkenness on an aircraft. The total cost of diverting the plane amounted to more than £12,000. Recorder Christopher Morris-Coole jailed Blake for 12 months and handed Fitzgerald a three-month prison term, suspended for 12 months. She will also have to complete 100 hours’ unpaid work.
In addition, the couple were ordered to pay £3,000, the sum of money they received for selling their story.
(guardian)