A man has been jailed for 20 months after a court found him guilty of drunkenly assaulting cabin crew on a Jet2 holiday flight from Glasgow to Bodrum, Turkey last September. David Lauriston’s behaviour became so bad that the fuel-laden Boeing 737 was forced to divert to Manchester airport just 30 minutes into the flight so that cops could haul him off the plane.
Lauriston, 39, from South Lanarkshire, Scotland, caused “terror and trauma” when he shouted homophobic and sectarian abuse at fellow passengers before punching, kicking and spitting at three female cabin crew who were trying to restrain him, Manchester Crown Court heard.
“Passengers described him shouting [that they] were Faggots and Feni*n bast**ds, a sectarian slur,” prosecutor Megan Tollitt was reported to have told the court. She said that there were 165 passengers onboard the packed flight including small children.
“Staff intervened trying to direct him back to his seat and started trying to calm him down,” Tollittt said. “He attempted to push past cabin crew. One member of the crew described him repeatedly poking her in the face and pushing her in the shoulder,” Manchester Evening News reported.
One of the cabin crew managed to wrap Lauriston’s arms behind his back and pushed him to the back of the plane where he proceeded to punch and poke her into the forehead around 10 times while threatening to bite her and making a growling noise.
Cabin crew let Lauriston use the lavatory but he then caused damaged to the plane by violently kicking the bottom of the door.
At this point, the crew tried to restrain Lauriston and tie him to a row of seats but he managed to grab one crew member by her neck scarf and dragged her down. He punched one crew member in the face and kicked out at another flight attendant.
“His behaviour was disgraceful and erratic. It can only be described as a traumatic experience,” one of the crew told the court in a prepared statement.
When interviewed by police, Lauriston claimed another passenger had told him he was gay and made “suggestive comments” towards him. He then says he ‘blacked out’ after drinking duty-free booze that his seatmate had offered him.
Lauriston pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating, one count of actual bodily harm, one count of criminal damage to property and one count of being drunk on an aircraft. His defence lawyer said Lauriston was on medication for anxiety and depression at the time and had apologised to the crew for his actions.
The judge, however, sentenced Lauriston to 20 months imprisonment saying he had caused “real terror and trauma to passengers” onboard the flight.
