Suicidal woman who tried to open plane door avoids jail
28.05.09
A suicidal woman who tried to open an aircraft door at 32,000 ft on a flight from Paris to Edinburgh Airport has been sentenced to 18 months probation. Ann Gilmour, 47, from Glasgow had earlier pleaded guilty to recklessly and negligently endangering an Air France flight in January. She had been expected to be jailed for the incident, but received a lesser sentence after Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard it would have been ‘physically impossible’ to open the aircraft door at that height. She will now appeal her conviction at the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Sheriff Isabella McColl sentenced Miss Gilmuor for a breach of the peace after hearing passengers were not in danger. She said: ‘I have obtained two opinions from experts in the Civil Aviation Authority and both agree that the design of the door in the aircraft is such that it would have been impossible for you to have physically opened the door. Turning the handle is possible, it triggers a light in the captain's cabin. If there had been any risk of opening the door custody would have been the only option.’
The court heard that Miss Gilmour was pulled away from the door after cabin crew saw her trying to turn the handle on the front exit door of the plane 90 minutes after it left Charles de Gaulle airport on 7 January with 100 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew on board. The court had originally been told her actions could have had ‘catastrophic’ results, with the door being blown away causing a sudden drop in pressure and temperature inside the cabin.
Miss Gilmour, who has a history of mental illness, later said she wanted to jump out of the plane and kill herself. She was restrained and arrested on arrival at Edinburgh Airport and has been in custody ever since. Her defence counsel Ronnie Renucci said: ‘It is unfortunate that this case has proceeded on a false premise. It is quite clear no-one in that aircraft was in danger as a result of Miss Gilmour's actions.'
Sheriff McColl ordered Miss Gilmour to take mental health support as part of her probation.
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