- BA passenger Stephen Bell, 46, hurled racist and homophobic abuse on flight
- Bell, from Aberdeen, was on flight that Ed Sheeran was on from Miami to London
A drunken British Airways passenger sparked chaos on a flight that Ed Sheeran was on by hurling racist and homophobic abuse at cabin crew in an air-rage drama has been spared jail.
Racist tirades made by Stephen Bell, 46, included telling air stewardess Sonia Nsonde ‘F*** off monkey’ and leaving her in tears.
Builder Bell, from Aberdeen, had been consuming closely and made monkey noises and gestures on the BA cabin crew member after which referred to as her colleague Phillippe Baffet ‘a homosexual c***’.
He has dodged jail for his abusive behaviour on the flight from Miama, Florida, within the US, to London Heathrow in October final yr which popstar Ed Sheeran, 33, was additionally on – after having taken a selfie with fan Dan Haughian earlier than it took off.
Police officers had been ready at Heathrow when the aircraft landed to arrest father-of-three Bell at simply earlier than 2am on Tuesday, October 24.
This picture reveals the second ‘drunk’ passenger Stephen Bell, 46, hurled racist abuse at cabin crew employees on the BA flight from Miami to London Heathrow in October final yr
A drunken British Airways passenger sparked chaos on a flight that Ed Sheeran (pictured) was on by hurling racist and homophobic abuse at cabin crew in an air-rage drama has been spared jail
Bell pleaded responsible to 2 rely of harassment, together with one which was racially aggravated, and of being drunk on an plane at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, The Sun reviews.
He instructed the court docket that he had drank cocktails and beers on the bar in Florida after he had run out of medicine for anxiousness.
Bell had instructed a member of the cabin crew that he was ‘drunk however OK’ when he boarded the flight, prosecutor Niamh McDonagh mentioned.
But she mentioned that half an hour after the flight took off, he noticed the crew member and shouted loudly and requested her age.
The court docket heard that one other passenger requested him to be quiet however he then grew to become abusive and began to shake the seat in entrance of him.
Cabin crew then tried to calm the state of affairs down, however he shouted at them: ‘What the f*** are you going to do about it?’
The Sun reviews that after stewardess Ms Nsonde got here to help he instructed her: ‘F*** of monkey.’
He then ‘put his palms beneath his armpits and made monkey noises and gestures at her,’ the prosecution mentioned.
Ed Sheeran posed for a selfie with Dan Haughian at Miami earlier than the flight
Ed Sheeran pictured in New York in September 2023
Police officers had been ready at Heathrow when the aircraft landed to arrest father-of-three Bell at simply earlier than 2am on Tuesday, October 24 (file picture of a BA Airbus A319-100)
Bell additionally referred to as Mr Baffet, a steward, a homophobic slur and a ‘homosexual c***’ – however he was then restrained by a passenger who was an off-duty police officer and the crew.
Ms Nsonde instructed the court docket in a press release that the incident made her cry and that it was the primary time she had ever been racially abused. She mentioned the incident made her really feel ‘very weak within the plane as there was nowhere I may go’.
Mr Baffet mentioned that the incident triggered hurtful recollections of homophobic abuse to resurface and made him query if he ought to preserve doing the job he loves as a result of rising frequency of those incidents.
While bench chair Nigel Shock mentioned the ‘notably disagreeable’ offences dedicated by Bell had been worthy of a jail sentence he was let off with a 16-week suspended sentence and ordered to pay £250 to every sufferer.
He was additionally slapped with a £350 high-quality and ordered to pay prices.