Airplane ‘snog’ cop investigated
AN airport police officer is being investigated by his own force over a passionate drunken snog with his girlfriend on a holiday flight.
Pc John Ashton is facing a gross misconduct probe over an incident on a flight to the Dominican Republic, which also landed his then-partner in front of a judge.
A court heard that when asked to move, Pc Ashton insisted on speaking to the captain and said: “I’m a police officer, I can get on the flight deck, I have got a right to.”
He is then said to have produced his warrant card.
Diane Gill, 57, a midwife from Bolton, was handed a suspended three-month prison sentence last week after pleading guilty to being drunk on an aircraft.
A court heard she had been ‘amorously’ kissing her partner on a Thomas Cook Airlines flight to the island on May 7, 2018.
Complaints were made to cabin crew after passengers reported Gill and PC Ashton, who is believed to be based at Manchester Airport, were engaged in an ‘over-the-top film kiss with arms wrapped all around each other’ moments before take-off. The loved-up pair were asked to stop as passengers and crew felt the behaviour was ‘inappropriate,’ the court heard.
When they landed in the Dominican Republic, the couple were escorted from the plane by local police. Before the crew could explain the situation to the officers, PC Ashton was said to have told the officers, ‘hi gentlemen, can I just explain to you what happened here?’ and again produced his warrant card.
It has emerged he is facing an internal ‘gross misconduct’ investigation by the Professional Standards Branch of Greater Manchester Police.