A former soldier has been sentenced to 46 weeks in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting four Jet2 cabin crew members during a flight, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency diversion.
Drunken mid-air assaults force emergency landing
Joseph McCabe, 40, from Glasgow, carried out a series of sexual assaults on the morning flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife on 15 March last year. The court heard his drunken behaviour became so severe that the pilot had to divert the plane to the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, where McCabe was arrested by local police.
The Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the flight, carrying around 110 passengers including families and children, took off at approximately 8.30am. Prosecutors said cabin crew soon noticed McCabe making repeated trips to the toilet. About 90 minutes into the journey, the assaults began.
A pattern of predatory behaviour
One female flight attendant felt someone touch her buttocks from behind as she served a passenger. When she turned, she found McCabe looking at her with a "smirk on his face". He then made sexualised comments about her tights and makeup, asking her age and where she lived.
McCabe, who served as a private in the Royal Logistic Corps for five years, went on to grope and slap the buttocks of a second attendant. He then grabbed a third crew member around the waist and attempted to hug a fourth. His conduct escalated as he threw his bank card at an airline employee and began dancing in the aisle.
Despite being given verbal and written warnings for his behaviour, McCabe ripped up the written notice. This left the cabin crew with no choice but to inform the captain, leading to the flight diversion to Porto Santo.
Sentencing and lifelong flight ban
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday, Sheriff Alison Stirling told McCabe his offences involved "a high level of culpability and a high level of harm". As well as the 46-week jail term, McCabe was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given non-harassment orders, banning him indefinitely from contacting his victims.
The father-of-two, who runs his own construction firm and co-owns a party boat business named The Drunken Anchor, has also been handed a lifelong ban from flying with Jet2. He has refused to pay a £5,000 fine imposed by the airline.
In mitigation, defence solicitor Anna Kocela said her client, a self-employed building boss, had been "drinking excessively" due to a family bereavement at the time of the offences. The court proceedings concluded a case that highlighted the severe consequences of abusive behaviour towards airline staff.
