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A woman who yelled “I’m going to kill you all” and tried to open the door of a plane midway through a flight has been jailed for two years.
26-year-old Chloe Haines was handed the prison sentence at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday following an incident on board a flight from Stansted Airport on 22 June last year.
Two RAF fighter jets were scrambled to meet the Jet2 flight – which was heading to Dalaman, Turkey – and escort it back to the Essex airport.
Haines, who passengers and cabin crew had fought to restrain, was arrested by police when the plane landed.
A court later heard how she “blacked out and didn’t really remember what happened” on the flight after mixing alcohol with medication.
Haines, of High Wycombe, had previously admitted at a hearing in December to endangering the safety of an aircraft and assaulting cabin crew member Charley Coombe.
Haines’ barrister told a court last year his client was a “troubled young person with a number of serious issues”.
He said “to her credit” that Haines had “engaged more fully with Alcoholics Anonymous”.
Haines sobbed through much of Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
Judge Charles Gratwicke said: “Those that are trapped in the confined space of the aircraft will inevitably be distressed, frightened and petrified by the actions of those who in a drunken state endanger their lives.
“For some it will be their worst nightmare come true.”
Jet2 calculated that the incident cost them £86,000, the court heard.
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Source: Sky News