A man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a female flight attendant and who pleaded guilty to disrupting a flight from London Luton Airport last year has been jailed for six months.
Kramat Khan, 36, of Stone Close, Great Denham, was travelling to Tenerife with EasyJet on 29th June 2019.
During the flight, he inappropriately touched a member of cabin crew as she carried out an inflight drinks service.
When Khan was challenged about his behaviour, he claimed that it was an accident.
Later on during the flight, as the same female flight attendant was working alone in the galley, Khan grabbed her from behind in a ‘tight hug’, and kissed her neck, ignoring her repeated pleas for him to stop.
Throughout the flight, Khan repeatedly left his seat and removed his shirt.
This was despite repeated requests from the crew and from the pilot for Khan to stop his disruptive behaviour.
The flight crew had become increasingly concerned for the safety and comfort of all passengers on board.
Khan continued to ignore their requests, and his behaviour escalated to become abusive and aggressive towards the crew and the other passengers.
Khan also became racially abusive towards members of the crew who tried to assist.
The pilot was forced to request a priority landing in Tenerife.
However, the crew decided to report Khan’s behaviour to police on their return to the UK rather than to the Spanish authorities.
At Luton Crown Court on Friday (31st July), Khan was sentenced to six months imprisonment for endangering an aircraft.
For the sexual assault, he was sentenced to a further two months to run concurrently, and one month for racially aggravated harassment, also concurrent.
Sergeant James Hart of our Airport Policing Unit said:
“Khan’s behaviour posed a serious risk to the crew and passengers, and he acted disrespectfully towards a female member of the crew, leaving her shaken and distressed for several days after.
“We are pleased that the severity of his actions have been recognised by the court in the form of a jail term.
“The crew’s primary responsibility is for the safety of the aircraft and its passengers, and Khan’s behaviour put that in jeopardy.
“Abusive and disruptive passengers must expect to be firmly dealt with, and this behaviour is never acceptable, let alone on board an aircraft.”
Mick Broster, Head of Security for EasyJet, said:
“Whilst serious disruptive passenger incidents are rare, EasyJet will not tolerate them. We take them very seriously, always push for prosecution, and fully co-operated with the police during their investigation.
“The safety and wellbeing of all of our passengers and crew is our highest priority.”
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