Actress drunk on holiday flight home
DRUNKEN actress Jemma Keys pestered passengers to buy her drinks after cabin crew refused to serve her, a court heard yesterday.
The former Hollyoaks star had drunk so much she had “no recollection” of the flight from Greece to Gatwick airport, magistrates were told.
Keys, daughter of football pundit Richard Keys, was arrested after downing six shots of gin in 30 minutes.
Jeremy King, prosecuting, told magistrates in Crawley, West Sussex, that stewards intervened when they realised she was trying to get drinks from other passengers.
“Flight staff refused to serve her due to the amount she was seen to drink on board and how she was clearly under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
“About 30 minutes before landing, she was heard asking her boyfriend to buy her a drink. He refused. There was an incident and she was moved to another row.
“Police officers met the aircraft at Gatwick and she was taken to a police station and interviewed the same day.”
Keys, of Ascot, Berkshire, was given a two-year conditional discharge after she admitted being drunk on an aircraft. She was supported in court by her mother Julia.
Mr King said Keys was travelling home from holiday with her boyfriend last month. He added: “She was seen to drink three small bottles of gin in quick succession. By the time the trolley got to the next row, the drinks had been finished.”
The court heard Keys was convicted five years ago of drink driving.
Seona White, defending, said Keys’s behaviour was a nuisance, not a danger. “She doesn’t make threats to staff or cause the flight to be diverted. She is a woman who has struggled for most of her adult life, and earlier, with alcohol addiction.
“She’s been through detox a few times. She thought she was doing well as she had gone seven weeks with no alcohol.”
Keys appeared in court in March for harassing a friend who had an affair with her father, who quit Sky TV after making derogatory remarks about a woman referee.
She was sacked by Hollyoaks in 2007 for drunkenness and in 2013 was given community service for attacking her mother in a drink-fuelled rage.