Drunken plane passenger jailed for 'vile' abuse

A drunk plane passenger who became so abusive the pilot was forced to abort a landing has been jailed for 10 months.

Stephen Blofield, 61, was so intoxicated on a Ryanair flight from Krakow to Bristol Airport on 11 November he caused both holidaymakers and crew to fear for their safety.

Bristol Crown Court heard Blofield had started drinking at the airport to calm his nerves before a flight and had continued on the plane, subjecting staff and passengers to "vile verbal aggression".

Prosecuting barrister Ian Fenny told the court of one account from the principal police officer in the case, who described Blofield's abuse as "effectively the worst he had to endure" over a 20-year career.

Blofield, of Goshawk Road, Haverfordwest, West Wales, abused Polish staff on board the flight and forced the pilot to abort his first landing after refusing to sit down and fasten his seatbelt.

After the plane's eventual landing, police boarded to arrest Blofield and found him "drunk, aggressive and confrontational", Fenny said.

He narrowly missed striking a neighbouring passenger while being handcuffed and was "so alarming and potentially dangerous" that he had to be removed from the plane using an ambulift, which is normally reserved for disabled passengers.

At a previous hearing, Blofield pleaded guilty to being drunk on an aircraft, using threatening or abusive language to cabin crew, failing to comply with the pilot's instructions and an offence under the Public Order Act of using threatening abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Sam Louwers, mitigating, explained the defendant had lost his medication for back pain, depression and anxiety ahead of the flight to Poland and turned to alcohol for the trip home.

"Ultimately, Mr Blofield was a man who has come from a difficult background and eventually found himself in Poland due to tracing of family roots," he said.

Louwers described Blofield's decision to settle his nerves with alcohol as "incredibly foolish", adding he had "no recollection" of the incident.

"Mr Blofield is distressed by his behaviour, he's distressed as to what he has witnessed in these videos," he said.

The court heard Blofield had a lengthy criminal record.

Jailing him, Judge Euan Ambrose said: "This is a case where only a custodial sentence can be justified.

"It is so serious that no other form of sentence would be appropriate."

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