Travellers jailed for disrupting flight

Two Travellers found guilty of disrupting a holiday flight from London to Jamaica were given prison sentences in Britain yesterday. Patrick Connors (36) of Lewisham, south-east London, was sentenced to 12 months for endangering an Airtours flight to Montego Bay in Jamaica on January 31st last year. Connors was also sentenced to six months for affray on board the jet, to run concurrently.

Francis Coyle (40), also from Lewisham, was sentenced to three months for his part in the affray.

Jailing them at Hove Crown Court, Judge Austin Issard-Davies told the men: "For those passengers around you who were unused to public displays of violence it must have been a very terrifying incident."

Coyle and Connors were found guilty last month after a three-week trial. Their holiday flight from Gatwick airport was diverted to Norfolk, Virginia, after the violence started.

During the trial, the jury heard that a group of six men and six women were among the last to board the Boeing 767 at Gatwick.

The prosecutor, Mr Michael Warren, said they were "boisterous" and as the flight went on they became more and more noisy, with the women singing traditional Irish songs and Cliff Richard's hit, Summer Holiday.

Later in the flight, Connors clashed with a Jamaican passenger sitting near the group at the rear of the aircraft. The court heard that Connors tried to fight the Jamaican, and Coyle tried to join in but was held off by an air hostess. One woman passenger said the scene was like a "bar-room brawl". Other passengers were screaming and crying during the fracas.

Judge Issard-Davies told the two men: "There is a clear obligation on every person to behave in public places with restraint and consideration for other people who are around them."

He said they could not have been unaware of the effect their group was having on the other passengers. "You were refused alcohol on several occasions for obvious reasons, but you made efforts to undermine this decision and an affray resulted from this."

The judge said he had no option but to impose a custodial sentence in both cases.

The public gallery was packed with friends and family of the Travellers. They sat in silence as the prison sentences were announced.

Connors and Coyle said nothing and gave no reaction as they were led away to the cells.