From the Sunday Mirror - 13.02.05
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From the Sunday Mirror - 13.02.05
SCANDAL AS BOMB NUT GETS JET CABIN CREW JOB Feb 13 2005
Blast threats crook put in charge of sunshine holiday fliers Exposed: Terrifying lapse that led to airline hiring man with list of convictions
By Tom Carlin
A NUT jailed for making 17 bomb threats was given a job as a cabin attendant with a holiday airline, The People can reveal today.
In a shocking security scandal, no checks were completed on James Cooper's criminal record before he flew on MyTravel jets packed with Brits heading for sunshine breaks.
Yet he had spent a year behind bars for bomb calls to restaurants and petrol stations - and had a string of convictions for burglary, drug possession, taking cars and other offences.
Cooper, 22, said: "Nobody asked me if I had any convictions. For all the company knew I could have been part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network planning to blow up a plane full of passengers. It is unbelievable."
He said of his £12,000-a-year job: "I had hundreds of opportunities to hijack planes. I was allowed in the cockpit with the pilots. I could have attacked them and taken control of the plane, jeopardising the lives of hundreds of passengers."
Cooper applied to the no-frills airline after spotting a newspaper advert.
And terrifyingly he slipped through the net despite post-September 11 security clampdowns and laws insisting on criminal record checks for airline staff.
Cooper was turned down after his first interview because of his lack of qualifications but three weeks later MyTravel called him back. He was offered the job last April.
He said: "They said they would get an advanced disclosure copy of any criminal record but it never came through. I could have been anyone.
"After chatting to the supervisors, it became obvious they were struggling for staff."
His contract said his Gatwick-based job depended on him clearing a "first level criminal record check".
But Cooper was sent on a five-week training course in first aid, aircraft safety and handling emergencies.
On May 1 he was on his first flight as a member of the cabin crew on an A330 Airbus flying 360 passengers to Alicante. For four months he flew all over the world and had access to airports' secure areas without anyone twigging his criminal past.
He said: "It really is scary. Who knows who could be working for the company posing as a flight attendant."
Cooper quit the job last September but admitted it had its attractions.
"I really enjoyed it at first," he told The People. "It was hard work and really long hours, especially if the flight got delayed, but the perks were great.
"I flew to beautiful places including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Miami and Barbados."
He said: "Sometimes we would get a few days' free time in a hotel and we would treat it like a mini-holiday.
"MyTravel cabin crews really know how to enjoy themselves. As soon as we landed we would get blottoed in the hotel. We were not allowed alcohol for 12 hours before a flight but people just ignored the rule."
Cooper, of Chatham, Kent, claimed: "It was quite common for members of the cabin crew to have sex with each other.
"There are stories about the pilots getting involved too although I never witnessed it.
"I even got lucky with one of the passengers. I chatted her up on the plane even though she was on holiday with her mum and dad. The attitude among the staff is definitely work hard and party hard. "A large majority of the male cabin crew workers are gay but I used to get on with all of them and most of them were a real laugh.
"I heard about two of the lads having sex in a restricted area of the plane in the middle of a flight. Everyone had a real laugh about it but I don't think the passengers would have been very happy to know the pair were all over each other when they were supposed to be serving tea and coffee."
Cooper revealed other concerns about security at debt-ridden MyTravel.
He said: "Before every flight we had to carry out a safety check on the plane to make sure there were no suspect packages.
"We would all rush round looking under the seats and inside the cabins. But most of the time the supervisors would tell us to just do a quick check so we didn't miss our flight slot because it would cost the company money.
"Sometimes airport security bosses would deliberately hide a package to see if we found it but we hardly ever did - it was embarrassing.
"We would end up getting in trouble but it wasn't our fault. We were being rushed."
In 2001 Cooper was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, to two years in a young offenders' institute for making the outrageous hoax bomb calls. He was freed after a year.
He said: "It started as a joke with my mates. I had a mobile phone with free calls and we used to ring people at random and put on voices for a laugh.
"We'd pretend they had won a radio competition and tell them to turn up at an address to collect their prize. When they arrived we would be watching from a car laughing our heads off."
The fun turned serious when Cooper started calling restaurants and filling stations with phoney bomb threats.
He said: "I would make the call and watch as the place was evacuated and the police arrived to cordon off the area."
Cooper made 17 fake bomb threats before police traced the calls and arrested him. He said: "I regret it now but there was no real harm done and it was a stupid teenage prank."
He first fell foul of the law when he was 15. He was arrested for driving a stolen car and burglary.
A year later he was sent down for another burglary and has been in and out of juvenile centres ever since.
His crimes include possessing cannabis, handling stolen goods, taking cars, driving dangerously and while disqualified and resisting arrest.
But, as he plans a new career as a DJ in Spain, Cooper insists he is still worried about his MyTravel experiences.
He said: "Something needs to be done to tighten up security before there is another September 11."
A MyTravel spokesman denied any security breach. He said: "Cooper did not hold a full security pass for the airport.At no time would he have been able to access non public restricted areas."
Blast threats crook put in charge of sunshine holiday fliers Exposed: Terrifying lapse that led to airline hiring man with list of convictions
By Tom Carlin
A NUT jailed for making 17 bomb threats was given a job as a cabin attendant with a holiday airline, The People can reveal today.
In a shocking security scandal, no checks were completed on James Cooper's criminal record before he flew on MyTravel jets packed with Brits heading for sunshine breaks.
Yet he had spent a year behind bars for bomb calls to restaurants and petrol stations - and had a string of convictions for burglary, drug possession, taking cars and other offences.
Cooper, 22, said: "Nobody asked me if I had any convictions. For all the company knew I could have been part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network planning to blow up a plane full of passengers. It is unbelievable."
He said of his £12,000-a-year job: "I had hundreds of opportunities to hijack planes. I was allowed in the cockpit with the pilots. I could have attacked them and taken control of the plane, jeopardising the lives of hundreds of passengers."
Cooper applied to the no-frills airline after spotting a newspaper advert.
And terrifyingly he slipped through the net despite post-September 11 security clampdowns and laws insisting on criminal record checks for airline staff.
Cooper was turned down after his first interview because of his lack of qualifications but three weeks later MyTravel called him back. He was offered the job last April.
He said: "They said they would get an advanced disclosure copy of any criminal record but it never came through. I could have been anyone.
"After chatting to the supervisors, it became obvious they were struggling for staff."
His contract said his Gatwick-based job depended on him clearing a "first level criminal record check".
But Cooper was sent on a five-week training course in first aid, aircraft safety and handling emergencies.
On May 1 he was on his first flight as a member of the cabin crew on an A330 Airbus flying 360 passengers to Alicante. For four months he flew all over the world and had access to airports' secure areas without anyone twigging his criminal past.
He said: "It really is scary. Who knows who could be working for the company posing as a flight attendant."
Cooper quit the job last September but admitted it had its attractions.
"I really enjoyed it at first," he told The People. "It was hard work and really long hours, especially if the flight got delayed, but the perks were great.
"I flew to beautiful places including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Miami and Barbados."
He said: "Sometimes we would get a few days' free time in a hotel and we would treat it like a mini-holiday.
"MyTravel cabin crews really know how to enjoy themselves. As soon as we landed we would get blottoed in the hotel. We were not allowed alcohol for 12 hours before a flight but people just ignored the rule."
Cooper, of Chatham, Kent, claimed: "It was quite common for members of the cabin crew to have sex with each other.
"There are stories about the pilots getting involved too although I never witnessed it.
"I even got lucky with one of the passengers. I chatted her up on the plane even though she was on holiday with her mum and dad. The attitude among the staff is definitely work hard and party hard. "A large majority of the male cabin crew workers are gay but I used to get on with all of them and most of them were a real laugh.
"I heard about two of the lads having sex in a restricted area of the plane in the middle of a flight. Everyone had a real laugh about it but I don't think the passengers would have been very happy to know the pair were all over each other when they were supposed to be serving tea and coffee."
Cooper revealed other concerns about security at debt-ridden MyTravel.
He said: "Before every flight we had to carry out a safety check on the plane to make sure there were no suspect packages.
"We would all rush round looking under the seats and inside the cabins. But most of the time the supervisors would tell us to just do a quick check so we didn't miss our flight slot because it would cost the company money.
"Sometimes airport security bosses would deliberately hide a package to see if we found it but we hardly ever did - it was embarrassing.
"We would end up getting in trouble but it wasn't our fault. We were being rushed."
In 2001 Cooper was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, to two years in a young offenders' institute for making the outrageous hoax bomb calls. He was freed after a year.
He said: "It started as a joke with my mates. I had a mobile phone with free calls and we used to ring people at random and put on voices for a laugh.
"We'd pretend they had won a radio competition and tell them to turn up at an address to collect their prize. When they arrived we would be watching from a car laughing our heads off."
The fun turned serious when Cooper started calling restaurants and filling stations with phoney bomb threats.
He said: "I would make the call and watch as the place was evacuated and the police arrived to cordon off the area."
Cooper made 17 fake bomb threats before police traced the calls and arrested him. He said: "I regret it now but there was no real harm done and it was a stupid teenage prank."
He first fell foul of the law when he was 15. He was arrested for driving a stolen car and burglary.
A year later he was sent down for another burglary and has been in and out of juvenile centres ever since.
His crimes include possessing cannabis, handling stolen goods, taking cars, driving dangerously and while disqualified and resisting arrest.
But, as he plans a new career as a DJ in Spain, Cooper insists he is still worried about his MyTravel experiences.
He said: "Something needs to be done to tighten up security before there is another September 11."
A MyTravel spokesman denied any security breach. He said: "Cooper did not hold a full security pass for the airport.At no time would he have been able to access non public restricted areas."
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things just go from bad to worse for this company.the whole disclosure form is a joke if you dont have one airlines let you check in with passengers to operate flights defeats the object!!.wont mention the name of airline operating last summer from my base with icelandic passes no disclosures needed i knew some of the crews who'd been sacked from previous airlines they had no trouble getting airside!!!.the whole system is just a gimmick set up after 9/11.
