9 Jul 2020
Vet nurse handed 12-month community order after being described in court as “every passenger’s worst nightmare” following incident on flight to Turkey.
James Westgate
Job TitleA veterinary nurse who caused “chaos” on a plane after getting drunk on vodka has been spared jail because of her young daughter.
Katherine Heyes, 29, was described as “every passenger’s worst nightmare” by Judge John Edwards, who told her it was only because she was a single mother with a four-year-old that was he not sending her straight to jail.
Heyes was with her daughter and two female friends on a Thomas Cook flight from Manchester to Turkey last year when the incident occurred, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard.
Philip Hall, prosecuting, said cabin crew noticed Heyes and her friends going into the toilets carrying a large beach bag.
It became obvious the defendant and her friends were drunk, with her speech “slurred” and crew discovering a bottle of vodka sticking out of her bag underneath her seat.
Mr Hall said Heyes was “shouting, swearing aggressively” and the young girl was taken to the back of the plane by crew to try to calm the situation.
The prosecutor added: “The defendant was emotional, hysterical, swearing at everyone, described as bordering on the manic; one minute with her head in her hands, the other flailing her arms around.
“The atmosphere in the cabin was described as ‘chaotic’.”
One passenger, with children on the plane, described it as “without doubt the worst experience I have ever had on a flight”, the court heard.
Flight crew considered diverting the aircraft, but eventually the situation calmed down.
Police were waiting for Heyes at the airport, but she was allowed to leave with no action taken in Turkey.
That turned into a “blind panic” when she returned home and discovered Greater Manchester Police and social services wanted to speak to her.
Heyes, from Stour Road, Tyldesley, near Wigan, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to entering an aircraft when drunk and being drunk on an aircraft on 18 May 2019.
Rachel Shenton, mitigating, said Heyes works full-time and is the sole carer for her daughter, with the father leaving when she became pregnant and offering no support.
She said Heyes rarely travels, does not fly or drink spirits, and the effects of alcohol in the air created the “perfect storm”.
Social services had “closed the case” and were satisfied Heyes was a good mother, Ms Shenton said.
She added: “The defendant expresses, in the clearest terms, her remorse, her regret, her shame.”
Judge Edwards gave the defendant a 12-month community order with 80 hours unpaid work and ordered her to pay £250 costs.
He told Heyes but for her daughter she would be going to jail. He said: “It is because of her, and only because of her, I’m not sending you down the steps.
“You are every passenger’s worst nightmare, or you were on the 18th of May last year. You were, to use your own phrase, ‘out of it’. You should be ashamed.”
