Woman appears in court after police escort her off Manchester Airport flight

Amy Gaskell was slurring her words, smelt strongly of alcohol and had glazed eyes

An inebriated woman had to be escorted off a plane by police, then she started mimicking them.

Amy Gaskell, 39, was on a flight back from Brussels to Manchester when she began to ignore requests from cabin crew. Officers at Manchester Airport were called to the flight and found Gaskell was slurring her words, smelt strongly of alcohol and her eyes had glazed over.

A member of the cabin crew had escorted her downstairs off the plane, during which she said she wanted to go home, Manchester Crown Court heard.

“She told officers: ‘They’re [The cabin crew] giving me sh*t’. She also said she had a ‘little’ to drink before claiming that she had been hit by a male passenger on board and had ‘mouthed off’ to him,” said prosecutor Sarah Hussell.

“The cabin crew confirmed that no assault had taken place. They said she did not seem to be aggressive, more so that she was not following the crew’s instructions.”

Gaskell then began to make comments about getting a ‘flight to England’, suggesting she didn’t know where she was. She was arrested and responded by mimicking the officer’s voice.

The court heard she had previous convictions, including for an offence of being drunk in charge of a child.

Georgia Faulke, defending, said Gaskell had issues with alcohol and drugs over the years, though had been clean and taking daily rehabilitation courses.

“The defendant was not being aggressive, she was simply not following the flight crew’s instructions,” she said.

“The defendant has remained sober for five years. She has been clean from amphetamines for 22 years, and cocaine for four-and-a-half years.

“Quite frankly, she is very ashamed of herself, especially after the good progress she made.”

Ms Faulke added that she had a history of being in abusive relationships and had suffered with her mental health. She had also been working in Croatia at the time.

Handing her a two year suspended term of two months in prison, Recorder Geoffrey Lowe told her: “Being drunk on an airplane is different to being drunk in a public place or on a high street. It is a confined environment and inevitably there is going to be a degree of distress caused to other people.

Gaskell, of Coleridge Court, Keswick in Cumberland, must also complete 150 hours unpaid work.

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