Plane terror drunk jailed

10:06am Thursday 9th October 2008

A CARPENTER has been jailed after he made a drunken threat to open an aircraft door at 35,000 feet – putting the lives of more than 250 passengers in danger.

Dean Lyons, of Malvern Close, Buckskin, Basingstoke, threatened to open the plane’s door during a drinking binge on a 10-hour flight to Cuba.

He verbally abused cabin crew staff after downing vodka on the flight to the tourist resort of Varadero on July 16.

Winchester Crown Court heard the 29-year-old – who was warned by the pilot about his behaviour – was so unruly that the concerned crew decided to divert the plane and make an unscheduled landing on the island of Bermuda.

Some of the 257 passengers on board cheered as Bermudan police officers led Lyons off the Boeing 767-300 plane. The passengers then faced a 20-hour delay in Bermudan hotels due to restrictions on crew flying hours, before they were flown the remaining three hours to Cuba.

Lyons was subsequently sent back to England on July 18, where he was arrested, charged and later remanded in custody.

Tammy Mears, prosecuting, said the air drama unfolded after Lyons had started to drink at Gatwick Airport when his plane to Cuba was delayed by more than three hours.

While he was allowed to board the First Choice Airways flight, Lyons was seen drinking from a bottle of vodka that he had brought on board.

Miss Mears said: “He was spoken to about this by the cabin crew. He became increasingly abusive and passengers asked him to be moved to other seats. He was still not calming down so the pilot came to speak to him himself.”

Miss Mears added that while Lyons appeared calmer after talking to the pilot, he soon started to verbally abuse cabin staff again, and threatened to open one of the aircraft’s doors.

The prosecutor said: “In a statement, the pilot said this would have caused some people to fall out of the aircraft, and that passengers would have had 30 seconds to place oxygen masks over their mouths before they blacked out. The threat was taken seriously.

“The cabin staff were so concerned that they would not be able to restrain Mr Lyons that they decided to set the plane down in Bermuda.”

The court heard how the delay cost First Choice Airways £40,000 in compensation costs, including the cost of putting up passengers in hotels for the night.

Lyons pleaded guilty to being drunk on a plane and also admitted a separate charge of causing actual bodily harm in a fracas in a Basingstoke pub last year, during which victim Gary Mills lost three teeth after being punched by Lyons.

Haroon Shah, defending, said Lyons had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had co-operated fully in interviews with the police.

He added that Lyons – a self-employed carpenter – had been working regularly until he was beaten up last year, suffering a broken jaw and eye socket.

The court heard Lyons subsequently started drinking, and ended up losing work, his house, and that his partner and son had left him as a result of his behaviour.

Jailing Lyons for a total of 12 months, Judge Patrick Hooton told him: “You got on this plane and put lives at risk. It must have been terrifying for the other people on the aircraft.”

Lyons was also ordered to pay £500 over a period of six months to Mr Mills as compensation for the dental work he had to have done.

Following the case, a First Choice Airways spokesman said: “First Choice is satisfied with the outcome of the court hearing as Mr Lyons’ actions on flight FCA 082 were not only reckless and dangerous, but caused a huge amount of disruption to our customers’ holidays.

“The safety of all our customers and crew is our number one priority and First Choice Airways operates a zero tolerance policy in regards to abusive or drunken behaviour on our flights.”