Air rage thug finally jailed 26 months after assault

[CrashDive]

Just found the following article on a local news website of which, as a previous employee of BWA and having played a part in bringing this to the attention of the police at LGW, I remember the incident quite well - and it was, indeed, particularly nasty.

E.g. If my memory serves me right, what the article below doesn’t report is that Mr.Baker ( the elderly gentlemen who tried to intervene ) was also slapped / punched in the face for his troubles, during which his spectacles were broken, i.e. along with punching the cabin crew, there was also a physical assault on an elderly passenger who wears glasses - charming !

Details taken at the time suggest that the other man mentioned in the article was actually Mr.Spelling’s father ( who’d recently been released from prison :rolleyes: ) and that this was a father and son beano to Malaga.

Needless to say the (in)actions of the Spanish / Malaga police are to be called seriously in to question, but wherein we can be thankful that at least the British legal system has a long memory ( i.e. it’s been more than two years since the offences occurred ) and that it is prepared to deal with these people in a firm manner – so, "way to go!" Sussex Police and the Lewes judge !

Air Rage Passenger Jailed

by Nigel Freedman

Terrified women and children on a packed holiday flight were left in tears by the drunken antics of two men.

Peter Spelling, formerly from Brighton, travelling with another man, turned nasty when cabin crew refused to serve them more vodka on a flight from Gatwick to Malaga in Spain.

Flight attendant Lloyd Collins was told he would be thrown out of a window if he did not serve them more alcohol.

Spelling then turned to some of the 148 passengers on the British World Airlines' flight, demanding they should buy more booze for them, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said James Baker, a pensioner sitting in front of him, made a brave attempt to intervene when Spelling and another man turned abusive.

He said: "James Baker, who was 70, took it on himself to stand up and tell these two to stop what they were doing.

"He said there were women and children on the flight who were frightened and crying."

Spelling responded by grabbing the pensioner's jumper and ripping it.

Karen Gillies, another member of the cabin crew, was punched in the stomach as she struggled to get handcuffs on him.

Spanish police were called and led the two men from the aircraft in handcuffs when it touched down at Malaga in July 2001.

They decided not to prosecute and the pair were released.

But the pilot later reported the incident to the Civil Aviation Authority and Sussex Police were asked to prosecute both men.

Spelling, who now lives in Tant Avenue, Canning Town, London, was arrested a year later. The second man is still on the run.

Spelling, 25, pleaded guilty to drunkenness on an aircraft and to assaulting Mr Baker.

He was jailed for 15 months when he appeared for sentence yesterday.

Mark Balysz, defending, said: "Mr Spelling is not a villain and I stress that because his father certainly is.

"The behaviour he has witnessed from his father, who has served time in prison, has had an effect on him.

"He has looked up to his father and has done as he has been told in the past.

"However, he earns an honest living running a tanning salon employing four people and, apart from minor offences when he was a juvenile, is of good character."

Judge Simon Coltart told Spelling: "You participated fully in a what was a disgraceful episode.

"You subjected airline staff and other passengers, including women and children, to your insults, verbal abuse and physical assault.

"They were disgusted, distressed and, in some cases, terrified."

[beaver eager]

Some good news at last (apart for seeing Iron Maiden on TOTP last night).

CrashDive, you are to be applauded for helping to get this mindless lout prosecuted in the UK.

IMHO, The Spanish Police have put themselves on a similar level to the perpetrators by letting them go.

[Tony Flynn]

Great job, here's hoping they get the other one as well

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Its actually suprising I think that the law is willing to prosecute and convinct so harshly.

15 months - you could do a lot of burglary, car theft, arson, swindling and street fighting for that these days.

Of course I think its a Very Good Thing that they do take this legal line. Its the only way to make a tiny minority of people behave properly. Shame you have to take such a sledgehammer to crack the nut but thats the great British public for you.

Makes you think though. You can't report pax thinking they will get a slap on the wrist and a fine. They might well end up doing serious time. As is obviously quite correct in this case.

Shame he's going to cost so much tax money through being banged up. I'd settle for a public apology, a light to medium public flogging outside Gatwick terminal 2 and then some community service.

Cheers

WWW

[CrashDive]

WWW, I too concur with your proposed sentence, and w.r.t. to light to medium public flogging I would like to volunteer myself for the job of dishing it out.... and, if it'll help clinch the role, I'll even offer to stick a Bible / Koran / etc., under me arm ( if it'll fit - which is unlikely :E ) just as they do in Islamic states when dishing out similar corrective punishment...... any chance we can use the ‘balls of the feet’ method, as I believe it’s very ‘effective’ ?! :{

[golfyankeesierra]

"IMHO, The Spanish Police have put themselves on a similar level to the perpetrators by letting them go"

"They decided not to prosecute and the pair were released"

I'm no expert, but isn't it true that when you don't prosecute, the police has no other option than release?
You see often that crews donot press charges to avoid lenghty delays, this could have been the case here. Perhaps there should be an international accepted form with which you can press charges in an reasonable amount of time.

Crashy here - what you say actually has some truth, in that - due to the bureaucracy involved - the crew would have 'gone out of hours' by the time the local police had completed their 'investigations' ( and hence a big delay, for a little company – which is not good ).
It's fortunate that, latterly, the ASR/MOR and witness evidence was sufficient for Gatwick Police to pursue the perpetrators ( being that the offence occurred on a Uk registered aircraft ) and to subsequently get a 'good result' - but I very much concur with your thinking, and maybe some coordination of this under JAR might be possible ? ( <-- don’t all laugh at once ! )

[Hilico]

Wee Weasley Welshman, have you been reading too many newspapers? The national press are only interested in reporting the cases where "obvious thugs" get "dealt with too lightly", so that's all you would read about.