Four men jailed over Heathrow tear gas attack

Four men have been jailed after an incident of "serious and sustained" violence in which tear gas was sprayed at a Heathrow Airport car park.

The substance "believed to be CS spray" was sprayed into a lift at a multi-storey car park at Terminal 3 on 7 December. It was then sprayed in the face of a woman who was followed to a taxi rank and had her suitcase stolen.

Five people were taken to hospital and the terminal was closed for hours after the incident.

Tyrone Richards, 31, Anton Clarke-Butcher, 25, Omoneke Whyte, 30, and Denzel Eduardo, 28, had admitted affray at Isleworth Crown Court. Richards was jailed for 27 months, Whyte and Eduardo for 23 months each, and Clarke-Butcher for 21 months.

Sentencing the four, Judge Kwame Inyundo said: "Individuals were targeted by you as a group and the violence used in the incident was serious and sustained."

Two women, who had arrived on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg in South Africa that morning, and two men who had met the women at the airport were in the lift when three of the defendants, wearing face coverings and dark clothing, discharged the substance at about 08:00 GMT.

The court heard the "evidence is not clear as to who deployed the gas", but that each man accepted their involvement in the joint enterprise.

The defendants were prevented from entering the lift by the group as "innocent parties ran away from the lift in some distress".

Gas was emitted once the lift arrived at the ground floor, causing "difficulties for people, particularly at a Caffè Nero nearby" with a barista reporting she started to cough and vomit blood, the court was told.

The women who had arrived from Johannesburg then went to an airport taxi forecourt where the defendants followed them and took their suitcases – which were never recovered.

The judge said it became apparent that the group of men "had a particular and determined interest" in the women's suitcases.

"Your group followed and confronted the pair (of women) who tried to get a taxi," Judge Inyundo said.

"Your group threatened violence to them and took the suitcases from them."

CS gas, which is used by police forces worldwide as tear gas to temporarily incapacitate people, was sprayed in the face of one of the women at close range at about 08:03 "causing her to start coughing and choking", the court heard.

Passengers leaving and travelling to the airport faced significant disruption, including delays to shuttle buses and trains, when Terminal 3 was locked down after the incident.

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