Edinburgh man abused cabin crew on holiday flight after being caught fondling a woman
A drunk Edinburgh man abused cabin crew and challenged passengers to fight with him after he was caught fondling a woman on board a Jet2 holiday flight.
Michael Fyvie, 35, was seen “passionately kissing” his partner with his “hand down the front of her trousers” while traveling on the plane from Tenerife to Edinburgh in August last year.
Fyvie reacted angrily to being asked to stop by shouting, swearing, making threats and labelling air crew and passengers as “mongos” and “retards” during his drunken outburst.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told after the flight landed passengers began “loudly applauding” when police officers boarded the plane to remove and arrest him.
Fyvie appeared at the Capital court on Friday, December 12, where he pleaded guilty to offences of being drunk on board an aircraft and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
He admitted repeatedly shouting, swearing, repeatedly uttering threats and offensive remarks and challenging passengers to a fight while on board a Jet2 aircraft on August 9 and 10 last year.
The offence was prosecuted under Section 1 of the Hate Crime and Public Disorder (Scotland) Act 2021 and was aggravated by prejudice to disability and sexual orientation.
Fiscal depute Frankie Liddle told the court cabin crew staff spoke to Fyvie and could smell alcohol on him as he boarded the plane in Tenerife at 9.15pm on August 9 last year.
Ms Liddle said: “During the flight a passenger reported the accused and his friend were very touchy with each other.
“He observed the offender passionately kissing the female, stroking her hair and pressing her against the side of the cabin.
“Witnesses approached the offender and the female and asked them to stop.”
The court was told Fyvie initially apologised but around 15 minutes later a cabin crew member seen him “kissing the girl again and noticed he had his hand down the front of her trousers”.
Ms Liddle said when the drunk was told his behaviour was “inappropriate” he had claimed the woman was his wife and the couple were on their honeymoon.
He began “acting aggressively and abusively”, called air staff “retards” and “mongos” and when asked to calm down he replied “I can do what I want, you have no authority”.
During the outburst he branded a male crew member “a faggot” before going on to verbally abuse passengers as “paedos” and “inbreds” and raise his fists and challenge them to a fight.
The court heard Fyvie also abused and threatened a passenger by calling him “a four-eyed t**t” and telling him to “sit down before I put those glasses into your face”.
The captain of the flight was informed of the disturbance and alerted air traffic control in Edinburgh to have police officers ready to meet the Boeing 737 on landing at around 1.15am on August 10 last year.
The woman traveling with Fyvie later told police the pair were not married, had only known each other a short time and described their relationship as “friends with benefits”.
Lawyer Nigel Beaumont, defending, admitted his client had been involved in “a dreadful incident” but he had stayed out of trouble since then and asked for bail to be continued.
Sheriff Gillian Sharp said due to the nature of the charges she was deferring sentence on Fyvie, of Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, for reports to be prepared to next month.