A woman has been told she must spend three months sober after admitting to being drunk on a plane, racially abusing an air steward, and assaulting police officers.

Jessica Horne, of Granville Street, Briercliffe, was sentenced in crown court after admitting to a litany of offences committed on a Ryanair flight between Fuerteventura and Manchester on March 30, 2022.

Horne, 33, appeared at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to be sentenced, where she was handed a suspended prison sentence for her conduct.

She was guilty of using racially aggravated threatening and abusive language towards a cabin crew member that made him believe violence would be used against him during the flight, and was also drunk while on the flight.

After the plane had landed following the four-hour journey from the Canary Island back to the North West of England, Horne then assaulted emergency workers, two police officers, in the course of their duty by beating them.

The initial hearing had been held at Wigan and Leigh Courthouse in March before being sent to Crown Court.

At crown court, Horne was handed 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

She was told to pay £1,000 in compensation to her victims and given a 90 day alcohol treatment programme. The cabin crew member she abused left his job four months after the incident and has since left the industry altogether.

Under Article 242 of the Air Navigation Order 2016, “a person must not enter any aircraft when drunk, or be drunk in any aircraft” and is subject to prosecution if this order is breached.

Article 245 also states it is illegal to “use any threatening, abusive or insulting words towards a member of the crew of the aircraft; behave in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards a member of the crew of the aircraft; or intentionally interfere with the performance by a member of the crew of the aircraft of the crew member’s duties”.