Major airport terminal locked down as passengers left ‘vomiting blood’ in gang assault
A court has heard that more than 20 people were treated by paramedics after a masked gang sprayed tear gas at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3, which was closed for hours following the incident
The court heard how passengers and employees were coughing and vomiting blood(Image: Getty Images)
Passengers at Britain’s busiest airport were left “vomiting blood” after a masked gang caused terror by spraying people with tear gas and stealing their luggage.
Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 was shut for hours following the horrifying incident which saw over 20 people receiving treatment from paramedics.
Tyrone Richards, 31, Anton Clarke-Butcher, 25, Omoneke Whyte, 31, and Denzel Eduardo 29, have all pleaded guilty to affray at Isleworth Crown Court in June. During the assault, the car park was packed with passengers arriving and collecting people from flights.
Five people were rushed to hospital following the “intense attack”, which began after a woman was mugged for her suitcase at around 8:10am. Armed police rushed to the Terminal 3 car park after the men doused multiple victims with the chemical at approximately 8:11am on December 7 last year.
The incident happened at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3(Image: PA)
Today, a sentencing hearing at Isleworth Crown Court heard three of the defendants, wearing face coverings and dark clothing, sprayed a substance “believed to be CS spray” into a lift at an airport car park just after 8am, reports the Express.
Inside the lift were two women who had landed on a flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, that morning and two men who had collected the women at the airport.
The defendants were stopped from entering the lift by the group as “innocent parties ran away from the lift in some distress,” the court heard.
The court also heard gas was released when the lift reached the ground floor, causing “difficulties for people, particularly at Caffè Nero nearby.” Some individuals were taken to hospital.
A barista at Caffè Nero, who began to cough and vomit blood, told the court she was “scared”. She added she “felt fine one minute and then almost instantly unwell”.
The passengers who had arrived from Johannesburg then proceeded to an airport taxi forecourt where the defendants followed them and took their suitcases – which were never found again. CS gas is used by police forces across the globe as a tear gas to temporarily incapacitate individuals.
The gas was sprayed in the face of one of the women at close range at 8.03am “causing her to start coughing and choking,” the court was told. The incident caused significant delays for passengers, including problems with shuttle buses and trains after Terminal 3 was put on lockdown.
A customer service agent at Terminal 3 described the incident as “terrifying.” And revealed she “felt dizzy and like I was going to pass out”.
One of the defendants was arrested at Heathrow Airport(Image: Hudaifa Yunis / SWNS)
The employee also alleged a woman in a wheelchair she was assisting “was struggling to breathe and using an inhaler”. Prosecutor Gray Rutter stated he “could not say exactly what led to this incident” but said “one may suspect what was going”.
The incident left “members of the public coughing, vomiting, and some vomited blood,” he added.
Richards was apprehended while still at the airport, with the other three defendants being identified and arrested separately later on.
Genevieve Moss, representing Eduardo, stated the CS gas “was discharged by the rival group” stating he suffers from asthma and this would have had a “dangerous impact on him”.
The solicitor explained that Eduardo, who has 12 previous convictions for 18 offences, would have “not agreed to take part in any activity involving such a substance” and expressed “deep remorse”.
Rushnay Sikander, acting for Whyte, said he was “very remorseful” adding he had a “traumatic childhood”.
Shanda McAteer, representing Clarke-Butcher, who has 14 convictions for 31 offences, stated he denied releasing the gas and “genuinely expresses remorse”.
Patrick Harte, acting for Richards, who has three previous convictions, said he was “not present when the first spray was released” and was “sorry to innocent bystanders suffering anguish”.
The sentencing hearing continues.
