Drunk female flying into Leeds Bradford Airport jailed as judge tells her: 'The message must go out'
A drunken passenger who drank bottles of wine from her duty free has been jailed after a judge told her the “message must go out”.
Terminal staff were contacted by cabin crew on the Ryanair flight from Faro in Portugal into Leeds Bradford on January 11, telling them that police were required on landing because of an intoxicated passenger.
Rachel Carter appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where she admitted a charge of being drunk aboard an aircraft. She was found to be the equivalent of being three-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit.
It was heard that when the officers boarded the flight after it landed around two hours later, they found the 47-year-old slumped in her seat.
She was the only passenger sat in her row after others had been relocated by concerned cabin crew.
Carter was slurring her speech and was unsteady on her feet. When asked to follow the officers she denied any wrongdoing but was swearing.
She was being “obstructive” and refused to hand over her passport and boarding pass, prosecutor Daisy Wrigley said.
Carter claimed she had not been drunk but was “meds related” because of her bipolar disorder.
She was formally interviewed the following day where she admitted she could not remember much of the flight.
She said she bought 200 cigarettes and two bottles of blackcurrant gin in duty free, but consumed a bottle of wine before take-off and another during the flight, telling officers it was “like medication”.
Carter, of Northlands Road, Winterton, Lincolnshire, has no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Anastasis Tasou said she deserved full credit for an early guilty plea. He said she “clearly” suffered with mental-health disorders, including bipolar and generalised anxiety disorder.
He said she had a severe breakdown halfway through her holiday in Portugal, spending the last few days “unable to get out of bed and face the world”.
She was even put under the care of the mental-health crisis team when she got back home, such was the concern. She had been put on new medication since November of last year in an effort to stabilise her.
Judge Kate Rayfield Carter said that the passengers had to spend a further two hours in close proximity with her after the call had been made to staff on the ground.
She told Carter: “I have seen the watchguard footage [of the officers] and I could see the real unease in the faces of your fellow passengers. They did not find this funny.
“You were not buying individual drinks but drinking from your duty-free bottles which you know you were not permitted to do.”
She acknowledged her health difficulties but told her the “message had to go out” that such behaviour would not be tolerated aboard aircrafts. She jailed her for four months.