A drunk businessman who had to be sedated after he assaulted his wife and tried to kiss a flight attendant has been jailed.
Philip Gould, 64, had been drinking wine and vodka when he unleashed a flurry of abuse at cabin crew on a British Airways flight from the Bahamas to London Heathrow on June 25.
Gould was returning home from a luxury holiday in Grand Cayman with his wife when he slapped her and abused the cabin crew during a “frightening” ordeal.
He also crudely propositioned a male flight attendant after being refused more alcohol.
Gould repeatedly volleyed abuse at cabin crew before lunging towards the cockpit door and began angrily shouting at the captain.
British Airways staff alerted the pilot and told Gould to calm down, which only aggravated him more, the court heard, with Gould having to be sedated by his wife with the assistance of a doctor.
Gould earlier admitted sexual assault, acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft and being drunk in an aircraft.
He was handed a 14-month immediate custodial sentence for endangering an aircraft, with further simultaneous sentences of 14 weeks for sexual assault, 10 months for being drunk on an aircraft, and one month for two counts of beating.
Philip Gould, 64, had been drinking wine and vodka when he unleashed a flurry of abuse at cabin crew on a British Airways flight
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PAJudge Hannah Duncan at Isleworth Crown Court said on Wednesday: ‘No-one on that flight who was at your end of the plane is likely to forget it, ever.
“I suspect they will be quite nervous about getting on a flight in the future.”
The court heard Gould handed police a prepared statement following his arrest back in England in which he dismissed some of his conduct as “playful banter”.
The judge said: “This was a prolonged incident where you ignored all attempts to diffuse the situation, in which you behaved in an entirely appalling manner in a number of ways.”
Gould reportedly screamed at the cabin crew: ‘I’ll kill you – there are not enough people on the plane to restrain me,” before he slapped his wife and grabbed her by the hair.
When a panicked air hostess tried to intervene, Gould shouted at her with a further bombardment of abusive language.
Gould then stood up and “kissed a male flight attendant on the right cheek before nibbling on his ear.”
The prosecutor said: “The defendant’s escalating behaviour was frightening and he became a serious safety issue.”
Manny Arora, defending previously, said his client suffers from PTSD and was “remorseful”.
He told the court: “He accepts he consumed some vodka. But when he entered the aircraft, he was not intoxicated”.
