A 20-year-old British woman was arrested after being restrained by six crew members and passengers aboard an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester. Demi Burton punched, bit, and headbutted crew and fellow passengers and repeatedly asked male passengers to join the mile-high club with her after being refused more alcohol by staff, BBC News reports. Now she’ll be spending time behind bars because of her behavior.
UK woman Demi Burton jailed for drunken ‘mile-high club’ antics on flight https://t.co/7x1YZpZ4XO pic.twitter.com/8DzysxJC48
— New York Post (@nypost) January 7, 2020
- It was clear she’d had too much to drink. Burton was said to have made extremely lewd sexual comments to at least four men on board and attacked staff members after she was told to stop her behavior. She repeatedly asked the men to join the “mile high club,” but none of them took her up on the offer.
- Burton admitted to being extremely inebriated. She copped to assault and being drunk on an aircraft in Manchester Crown Court, where Judge John Edwards pointed out that she created “the possibility of endangerment of the plane for its 259 passengers.” Given that it took six crew members and passengers to restrain her during the 4,500 mile flight, he had a point.
- Burton claimed she had a fear of flight. She was on her way home from a three-month trip to Australia to visit family and said she drank to alleviate her fear of flying. A consultant anesthetist aboard the flight was bitten on the elbow and headbutted by Burton while a stewardess was bitten on the forearm and headbutted around teh chin.
- She was sentenced to six months behind bars. Judge Edwards said he hoped this would serve as a deterrent to others who might be tempted to be unruly on a flight as Burton was. Her defense lawyer, Martin Callery, said she was “thoroughly ashamed of herself” and “utterly embarrassed at the way she behaved.”
