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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Chris Slater

The moment a whisky-fuelled yob who knocked a man's tooth out goes berserk on a Ryanair flight

This is the moment a lout has to be restrained as he attacks another passenger during a flight rampage for which he has now been jailed.

Adam Whittingham, 32, caused "chaos" on the three and a half hour Ryanair flight from Agadir to Morocco to Manchester, a court heard.

Whittingham, wearing a retro United top, boarded the flight from the popular holiday resort with a litre bottle of whisky from duty free and was being "loud and obnoxious" a court was told - immediately getting into an argument with another passenger about football.

His behaviour then began to deteriorate from there.

During the flight he pushed an air steward making contact with his face as he rummaged through a drinks trolley looking for a glass.

He struck the man sitting next to him in the face, knocking his tooth out.

As the flight landed late on February 9 this year he launched an attack on the man he had originally been arguing with about football.

Adam Whittingham wearing the same United top he had on during the flight (MEN Media)

At several points consideration was given to diverting the plane, prosecutors told Manchester Crown court last week.

And by the time the plane landed at Manchester Airport the pilot could hear the shouting and screaming coming from the cabin.

As it was taxiing he was forced to lean out of the cockpit window and ask officers waiting on the tarmac below to get on as soon as the doors were opened as the "situation had got out of control."

He then punched and bit a police sergeant who got on to try and arrest him.

He was jailed for 20 months for endangering an aircraft and assault causing actualy bodily harm (ABH) last Friday.

Police had to immediately board the Rynair flight after it landed at Manchester Airport (Hufton+Crow)

Footage released by the Crown Prosecution Service paints a picture of the situation faced by his fellow passengers who a judge said had been left "fearful and distressed" as they were "trapped" in close proximity to him.

During the clip, filmed on a fellow passengers mobile phone and shown in court during his sentencing, he can be seen grappling with passengers trying restrain him as he lunges towards one of his victims in the dimly lit cabin during the night flight.

Meanwhile there are horrified screams and shouts from his fellow travellers to "pack it in" and "get the f***k off him!" as "there are kids in the plane man."

Officers boarded not long after the clip was filmed and Whittingham "flew at" one of them, leaving him with a swollen and bloodied nose and lip , as well as a bite mark after "clamping" his teeth on his chest at the side of his body armour.

The judge said Adam Whittingham caused 'fear and distress' to other passengers (Facebook)

Dad-of-one Whittingham, from Wolverhampton, who has another child on the way, said through his barrister that he had been battling alcohol addiction and that despite not being able to remember any of the flight, was "ashamed" of his behaviour.

However passing sentencing at Minshull Street Crown Court judge Tina Landale said: "Travelling on an aircraft places a special duty on passengers to behave.

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"Small incidents can have catastrophic consequences.

"The passengers had to endure three and a half hours of your behaviour.

"Not only did you use violence you caused around fear and distress to staff and the passengers around you who were trapped in a small area thousands of feet above the ground.

"You deliberately continued to get drunk, drinking from your own bottle of whiskey when you knew that was against the rules.

"I have seen a very small snapshot of what went on in that cabin.

"And the offences are so serious that only immediate custody can be justified."

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