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Drunk easyJet passenger groped airport worker
An easyJet passenger has escaped a prison sentence for groping an airport worker and abusing airline staff and police on a plane.
Paul Clark, 41, from Wallsend, sexually assaulted the woman at Newcastle International Airport when he was asked to calm down while travelling with a group of 22 men.
According to a report in the Evening Chronicle, Clark, married with one child, boarded the flight to Alicante but was asked to leave for being too drunk.
He flew into a rage, shouting abuse at the crew and frightening other passengers, some of them children.
Police were called but Clark still refused to leave, swearing at officers and threatening to kill them.
The court heard he was eventually restrained but caused the flight to be delayed by nearly an hour.
Clark admitted being drunk on an aircraft and resisting a police officer.
He was found guilty after trial of sexual assault on the airport worker and was sentenced to eight months in custody, suspended for 18 months.
Clark was also banned for life from using Newcastle Airport and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years.
Judge Robin Mairs said groping the airport worker was ‘humiliating and degrading’ for the victim and was not a joke.
"The days are gone when a man like you can grab women because they thought it was fun and, if they didn’t see the fun in it, it was their fault," he said.
"It’s a sexual offence, committed by sexual offenders, which is what you now are."
His defence lawyer said Clark, who has no past convictions, was very drunk and was now remorseful and ashamed.
The incident happened on September 9 2014.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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