London: Irish international human rights lawyer Simone Burns, who was caught on camera making abusive rants at Air India crew after she was refused alcohol on a flight from Mumbai to here has been jailed for six months in the UK.
Burns, was described as ‘drunk and obnoxious’ during a hearing at Isleworth Crown Court here Thursday, where it emerged that she also spat at a flight attendant during her foul-mouthed racist tirade after she was refused alcohol on the flight in November last year.
“The experience of a drunk and irrational person in the confines of an aircraft is frightening, not least on a long-haul flight, and poses a potential risk to safety,” said Judge Nicholas Wood, as he sentenced the 50-year-old to six months in prison for being drunk on an aircraft and two months for assault, sentences to run concurrently.
“You were drunk and obnoxious almost from the beginning to the end. You were abusive, contemptuous and confrontational and used appalling language,” added the judge.
Burns, born in Northern Ireland and living in Hove in England, was also ordered to pay 300 pounds compensation to the person she assaulted, with the judge saying that ‘spitting straight into a crew member’s face at close range is a particularly insulting and upsetting act’.
The court heard how the lawyer drank three bottles of wine on the long-haul flight before abusing the cabin crew as she was denied a fourth bottle of red wine for being too drunk. She was given a series of warnings before being arrested on landing in London. A member of the Air India cabin crew described her conduct as unlike anything he had seen during his 34-year aviation career.
Burns’ defence lawyer suggested that her actions were due to a ‘mixture of altitude, the consumption of drink and anxiety’ at the fact that she was likely to miss the funeral of an uncle. Mark Kimsey told the court that his client was ‘totally ashamed of her behaviour’.
PTI