A BRITISH lawyer who spat at an Air India cabin crew member and verbally abused him using racial slurs has been jailed for six months.
Sentencing Simone Burns at Isleworth crown court, judge Nicholas Wood said: “The experience of a drunk and irrational person in the confines of an aircraft is frightening, not least on a long-haul flight and poses a potential risk to safety.”
The judge noted that “such offences are often committed by people of impeccable character” and added that “spitting straight into a crew member’s face at close range is a particularly insulting and upsetting act”.
Burns was also ordered to pay £300 compensation to the crew member who was assaulted.
Burns, a human rights lawyer also known as Simone O’Broin, abused Air India staff on a flight from Mumbai to London on November 11 after she was denied alcohol.
She was served three bottles of wine with breakfast “immediately” after taking off from Mumbai, and she began swearing when she was denied more.
She spat in the face of a cabin supervisor when he tried to intervene.
During the flight, the 50-year-old from Hove also smoked a cigarette in the toilets.
She was arrested after the flight touched down in London.
