Veterinary nurse who caused “chaos” on an airplane after getting drunk on vodka has been spared jail

Katherine Heyes, 29, from Stour Road, Tyldesley, was described as “every passenger’s worst nightmare” by Judge John Edwards, who told the defendant only because she was a single mum with a four-year-old was he not sending her straight to jail.

Heyes was with her daughter and two female friends on a Thomas Cook flight from Manchester to Turkey last year when the incident occurred, Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester heard.

Philip Hall, prosecuting, said during the flight cabin crew noticed Heyes and her friends going into the toilets carrying a large beach bag.

It became obvious the defendant and her friends were drunk, with Heyes’ speech “slurred” and crew discovering a bottle of vodka sticking out of her bag underneath her seat.

Mr Hall said the defendant was, “shouting, swearing aggressively” and the young girl taken to the back of the plane by crew to try to calm the situation.

The prosecutor added: “The defendant was emotional, hysterical, swearing at everyone, described as bordering on the manic; one minute with her head in her hands the other flailing her arms around.

“The atmosphere in the cabin was described as ‘chaotic’.”

One passenger, with children on the plane, described it as, “without doubt the worst experience I have ever had on a flight,” the court heard.

Flight crew considered diverting the aircraft but eventually the situation calmed down.

Police were awaiting her at the airport but Heyes was allowed to go on her way with no action taken in Turkey.

That turned into a “blind panic” when she returned home and discovered Greater Manchester Police and social services wanted to speak to her.

Heyes pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to entering an aircraft when drunk and being drunk on an aircraft on May 18, 2019.

Rachel Shenton, mitigating, said Heyes works full time and is the sole carer for her daughter, with the father leaving her when she became pregnant and offering no support.

She said Heyes rarely travels, does not fly or drink spirits and with the effects of alcohol while in the air, this was the “perfect storm.”

Social services had “closed the case” and they were satisfied Heyes was a good mother, Ms Shenton said.

She added: “The defendant expresses, in the clearest terms, her remorse, her regret, her shame.”

Judge Edwards gave the defendant a 12 month community order with 80 hours unpaid work and ordered her to pay £250 costs.

He told Heyes but for her daughter she would be going to jail.

“It is because of her, and only because of her, I’m not sending you down the steps.

“You are every passenger’s worst nightmare, or you were on the 18th of May last year.

“You were, to use your own phrase, ‘out of it’. You should be ashamed.”