Air rage smoker jailed for 12 months
29.09.07
A 53-year-old man who terrified fellow passengers on board a holiday flight and assaulted an air steward was jailed for 12 months yesterday.
Stephen Robinson, of Hope Town Lane, Darlington, clambered over seats to hit his victim after being told to put out a cigarette on the Thomas Cook Turkey to Newcastle Airport flight in March. At Newcastle Crown Court he admitted endangering the safety of the aircraft and causing actual bodily harm.
The court heard how Mr. Robinson became aggressive after trying to use a House of Fraser store card to buy drinks on the flight last March. He then clambered over other passengers in his row of seats after he was told to extinguish a cigarette at 33,000ft. In the melee that followed airline steward Philip Miles was hit in the face causing damage to eight of his teeth, which cost £2,000 to repair.
Cabin crew needed the help of passengers to restrain him after the attack and held him down before he could be handcuffed. The busy Boeing 757, flying from Antalya to Newcastle, was diverted to Frankfurt in Germany where Mr. Robinson was removed.
Kristian Mills, defending, said Mr. Robinson had no money and was forced to eat leftovers from canteens as he roamed around the German airport for two days. He eventually asked a charity to fund his flight home as nobody in the UK was willing to act as a guarantor.
Sentencing him to 12 months in jail, Judge Brian Forster QC told Mr. Robinson: 'You terrified the people who were about you and you made the life of the aircraft crew very difficult.' He added that the court had no power to ban Mr. Robinson from flying again, but that he had been blacklisted by Thomas Cook.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book newcastle airport hotels or newcastle airport parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great newcastle airport parking and newcastle airport hotels price comparison pages.
