Heather Anne McCarroll, a social worker, has been sentenced to four months in prison for a shocking incident on a Jet2 flight from Belfast to Antalya, Turkey, in September of last year.
During the flight, she became intoxicated, assaulted cabin crew members, and verbally abused passengers. McCarroll pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including assault and being drunk on a plane. District Judge Nigel Broderick imposed the sentence as a deterrent due to the increasing number of such incidents on flights.
McCarroll's disruptive behavior included shouting obscenities at crew members, using a vape (despite it being banned onboard), shouting sexual obscenities in the plane's toilet, and damaging the toilet.
She also grabbed the intercom and screamed into it, causing the pilot to switch it off. McCarroll initially claimed she had taken diazepam with alcohol to calm her nerves but was found guilty of her actions. She was ordered to serve the prison sentence and pay fines totaling £300, with the option to appeal her sentence while on bail.