Judge Michael Hyam, at the Old Bailey, told Rawson Watson, 37, that the circumstances of the crime were unique.
The stowaway had hidden in the lining of the jet's storage area on a return flight to Madrid in January 2000. He had planned to be unloaded with the money and had concealed himself in an express handling box, which was to have been smuggled out of the airport by his accomplices. But Watson's "daring and cunning plan" was foiled when he fell out on to the runway at Heathrow.
He abandoned trying to steal all the money but managed to take £200,000 in pesetas. He disappeared empty-handed into the night and was only arrested in October 2002 after being stopped over a drink-driving incident. His DNA linked him to blood found in the hold where he had cut his hand shaping the box.
Watson had told the court he could not be the thief on the plane because he was in West Africa at the time. But a passport he produced to prove it turned out to contain two forged entries for Togo.
Graham Trembath QC, defending, said Watson, of Gillingham, Kent, had spent his time on the run "going straight" and settling down with a family. "All went well until that fateful extra pint," which led to his arrest for drink-driving.
A probation report said that Watson "could lead a successful life if he concentrated on legitimate ways of earning a living". But Judge Hyam told him: "If you had been successful, suspicion would have fallen on innocent people, the [airport] loaders and unloaders."
Watson was convicted of attempted theft but cleared of causing a safety risk by damaging the plane.
