A SECURITY training instructor whose falsified documents nearly caused Birmingham Airport to cease operations has been handed a suspended prison sentence, reported the Telegraph.
Shoaib Iqbal, 40, neglected to arrange required yearly training for 38 airport security workers and then created 85 fake certificates claiming they had finished the courses.
Birmingham Crown Court was told the Mitie employee's false paperwork risked "catastrophic consequences" for airport safety and could have led to "the whole operation being shut down".
Iqbal, who lives in Saltley, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to producing a false document with intent and received a two-year suspended sentence last Friday (28).
The court heard that in December 2022, while working as a training instructor, Iqbal's problems emerged when security personnel reported they had not received their yearly refresher courses.
An airport audit subsequently revealed his records were not complete. He initially said he had been "lazy in admin" and claimed the paperwork existed but hadn't been properly filed.
He later changed his explanation, telling a Mitie manager the missing records resulted from a delay in printing.
Examination of the documents uncovered inconsistencies in handwriting, and two Mitie employees confirmed signatures attributed to them were not genuine.
Alison Slater, representing the Civil Aviation Authority in the prosecution, told the court a compliance officer warned the airport could not "safely function and the whole operation could be shut down".
"There doesn't appear to be a motive for personal gain, it was more about covering up ineptitude," Slater was quoted as saying. "There was little or no obvious planning. No sophisticated planning."
Iqbal left his position in February 2023 after learning he faced criminal investigation.
Ben Brown, acting for the defence, explained his client had become "overloaded" by work demands and "kept digging to cover his tracks".
Iqbal must complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities and 200 hours of unpaid work, plus pay £750 towards court costs.
Delivering the sentence, Recorder Kevin Hegarty KC said, "Fortunately no specific harm came about or can be identified.
"This was however an abuse of your position of trust to access the files and modify documents to make it look as though you had done your job."
