mary_hinge
24th Jan 2006, 15:11
I re-call this being raised a week or so ago but can't find the link. Sorry if it is duplicated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4644022.stm
A British diplomat accused of threatening to kill a plane's cabin crew and passengers has been cleared of being drunk on an aircraft.
Colonel Peter Roberts MBE, the former British defence attache in Thailand, was cleared at Isleworth Crown Court.
The 51-year-old, of Passfield, Hampshire, had denied the charge.
It was claimed during the six-day trial that the father-of-three had gone on a drunken rampage in business class on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow.
Prescribed drug
Col Roberts was said to have threatened to kill other passengers and crew and eventually had to have his hands and feet bound with plastic ties to subdue him during the flight on 17 February.
He had been heavily involved in trying to identify British victims of the tsunami in Thailand and was on his way back to London to give a briefing on the disaster to colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office.
The former army helicopter pilot told the jury he had been suffering from stress following the tsunami and that he had accidentally taken too much of the prescribed drug Seroxat which he was taking for depression.
The officer told the jury he had no memory of his behaviour on the plane.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4644022.stm
A British diplomat accused of threatening to kill a plane's cabin crew and passengers has been cleared of being drunk on an aircraft.
Colonel Peter Roberts MBE, the former British defence attache in Thailand, was cleared at Isleworth Crown Court.
The 51-year-old, of Passfield, Hampshire, had denied the charge.
It was claimed during the six-day trial that the father-of-three had gone on a drunken rampage in business class on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow.
Prescribed drug
Col Roberts was said to have threatened to kill other passengers and crew and eventually had to have his hands and feet bound with plastic ties to subdue him during the flight on 17 February.
He had been heavily involved in trying to identify British victims of the tsunami in Thailand and was on his way back to London to give a briefing on the disaster to colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office.
The former army helicopter pilot told the jury he had been suffering from stress following the tsunami and that he had accidentally taken too much of the prescribed drug Seroxat which he was taking for depression.
The officer told the jury he had no memory of his behaviour on the plane.