A drunken passenger on a Jet2 holiday flight ran up down the aisle 'trying to expose himself' and was so intoxicated he fell over when police tried to arrest him.
Jack Breheny, 32, from Burnage, who had booked a trip to Salou in Spain to get over a break-up, was spared an immediate jail sentence after he told a court he was 'deeply ashamed'. Police were called to aircraft moments after it touched down at Manchester Airport at about 10pm on October 3 last year following reports of a 'very intoxicated' passenger armed with 'plastic shards' running amok during the flight.
Crew of the aircraft said the defendant was 'heavily intoxicated' during the flight and was seated beside his twin brother, prosecutor Hayley Parkes told Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon (January 14).
It later emerged he was not, in fact, armed with plastic shards and when police boarded the aircraft officers concluded that 'it was immediately obvious that the defendant was heavily intoxicated', Miss Parkes told the court.
But unemployed Breheny was 'compliant' at first, offering out his hands to the arresting officers and telling them 'take me' before they handcuffed him, the court was told.
A statement from one of the officers, referred to in court, revealed that the defendant 'fell over immediately' in front of him and then began to display 'resistance'. He had to be assisted by the arresting officers as they walked him off the aircraft.
He was loaded onto a waiting police van and driven to the airport police station but his behaviour 'was becoming more disorderly' and he began making threats to the officers, the prosecutor told the court. Rather than being interviewed, the defendant was placed straight into a police cell 'due to the risk' he posed, said Miss Parkes.
Jet2 flight attendants told police the defendant had been running up and down the plane 'trying to expose himself' as shocked fellow passengers watched. The defendant's twin brother 'prevented this to an extent', said the prosecutor.
But the defendant began 'shouting and screaming' and locked himself on a toilet. When crew finally opened the door, they found him seated fully clothed on the loo.
Breheny had no previous convictions apart from one reprimand and one caution when he was a youth, the court was told. Adam Roxborough, defending, told the court his client had been on a week-long holiday in Salou, Spain, paid for by the brother to get over a recent break up suffered by the defendant. Breheny had taken the break-up 'badly', he said.
"The idea was to have a week's break. That's the context in which this offending took place," said Mr Roxborough. "Mr Breheny accepts this was disgraceful behaviour. He's deeply ashamed," said the barrister.
When Judge Suzanne Goddard KC said it had taken until page 11 of the pre-sentence report for the defendant to say he was sorry, Mr Roxborough said: "He's expressed to me he's deeply ashamed of his behaviour. He knows it will have caused a significant degree of anxiety for a number of people on the flight."
The barrister said his client had been shouting in the toilet 'because he could not in his situation unlock it - that's an indicator of the state of his inebriation'.
Mr Roxborough said such offences 'routinely' end in jail sentences but he asked the judge to accept a recommendation in the pre-sentence report penned by the Probation Service that Breheny be handed a community sentence as he had acknowledged he had a 'problem' with drinking and had sought help to address it. He said his client had admitted his guilt at the first opportunity and 'did not seek to prevaricate'.
The barrister also touched an unspecified 'event' in the defendant's younger life which was 'likely to have had a significant impact on his adult life'. The court heard Breheny also consumed cocaine and Mr Roxborough said his client had been 'self-medicating if I can put it that way'.
Judge Goddard told the defendant: "Your behaviour was appalling. It's the sort of behaviour that caused distress and upset for those on the plane having to watch the way you behaved."
The judge noted there was 'no violence' or threats made on board the aircraft, that the defendant had no previous convictions and that the defendant had said he was 'deeply ashamed'.
Judge Goddard said there was a 'good prospect of rehabilitation' and was 'able to stop short' of handing out an immediate prison sentence.
Breheny, of Briarlea Gardens in Burnage, was handed a six month jail sentence suspended for 18 months after he admitted a single charge of being drunk on an aircraft. He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. He was also told to complete an alcohol treatment program.
"I'm giving you a real opportunity today. If you fail to take it, you will only have yourself to blame," said Judge Goddard.
