Nazi-saluting air rage drunk jailed as appeal over assault on pilot is rejected
A NAZI-saluting bully who shouted and swore at cabin crew and tried to grab a pilot by the throat has been jailed for three months.
Dismissing an appeal by Paul Anthony Burgoyne (51), judge Melody McReynolds said given his “bullying behaviour” on the easyJet flight, “a deterrent sentence is entirely appropriate”.
The judge told Antrim County Court yesterday that she had “no hesitation in affirming every aspect of the order” of the judge who had originally jailed Bur- goyne for three months last June.
Burgoyne, originally from Northern Ireland but now living at Temple Close, Shepshed in Loughborough, pleaded guilty to nine offences arising from the incident on February 11.
They included four counts of common assault, one relating to the captain of the flight; damaging the captain’s £600 wrist watch; using disorderly behaviour at Belfast International Airport; behaving in an abusive, insulting or threatening manner towards cabin crew, and recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft.
The court heard Burgoyne was high on a cocktail of alcohol and cocaine when he boarded the flight to Birmingham.
A prosecuting lawyer told the court that when a member of the crew asked Burgoyne to raise the window blind for take off, he gave her a “Nazi salute” and said: “All right, mein fuhrer.”
“He was told that he would be removed if there were further issues but he continued to be aggressive and swearing,” said the lawyer, adding that having been spoken to by the aircraft captain, Burgoyne was deemed unfit to travel.
Burgoyne continued to be aggressive, shouting and swearing at staff, causing both the captain and a female member of the crew to believe he was going to punch them.
Before he was removed from the plane Burgoyne tried to “grab the captain by the throat but grabbed him by the shirt collar” which resulted in a struggle during which the pilot’s £600 watch was broken.
His lawyer told the court Burgoyne had come back to Northern Ireland for a family meeting which unfortunately had “become toxic”, and coupled with issues dating back to childhood, “this was the straw that broke the camel’s back”.