Jail for drunk who lit up on aeroplane
Aug 29 2008 by Hilary Clixby, The Journal
A DRUNKEN man put the lives of air passengers at risk by smoking a cigarette in an aircraft toilet and disabling the smoke alarm to cover his tracks.
Alan Burke was already under the influence of drink when he and two friends boarded the easyJet Boeing 737 flight from Barcelona to Newcastle in December last year.
He had a plastic cup of red wine with him and continued to drink from it, even after being warned it was an offence for passengers to take their own alcohol on board.
And he attracted further attention after the captain told a steward he could smell smoke coming from one of the toilets, Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday.
Burke admitted smoking a cigarette when he came out of the cubicle, claiming he had flushed it away, the court was told.
Investigations revealed he had also disabled the smoke detector “indicating he knew perfectly well he should not have been smoking and was going to do it come what may,” said prosecutor Geoff Mason.
Burke, who had stuffed wet paper into the vents giving access to the smoke detector, was arrested when the plane touched down at Newcastle.
The 50-year-old from Avison Court, Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle, told police he had been drinking the night before the flight and effectively “topped himself up” at Barcelona before boarding the plane.
He said had he not been drinking, he would not have lit a cigarette, adding: “I apologise for my behaviour.
“I didn’t go with the intention of endangering people’s lives.”
He was jailed for 12 months after admitting endangering the safety of an aircraft and being drunk on an aircraft and given a consecutive six months for unrelated offences of criminal damage and shoplifting and drug possession.
Stephen Duffield, defending, said Burke – who claimed in police interviews to drink two bottles of vodka a day – had since sought professional help for his alcohol problem.
“He has torn up his passport as a result of this because he realises that until he stops drinking, he has no business to be on an airplane and putting himself in the position he now finds himself in,” Mr Duffield said.
“He has come to realise the seriousness of what he did. The offence was committed not with any intention of endangering the aircraft or passengers. It was a stupid thing he did because he had too much to drink.”
