Catherine Bellis, 44, from Liverpool, drank duty free alcohol as well as buying more drinks on board a flight from Tenerife and Liverpool before attacking her partner and a cabin crew member
A drunk Ryanair passenger was so drunk that her despairing partner twice moved his seat and the captain used the tannoy to tell her to behave.
Catherine Bellis, 44, who had hit the vodka before even boarding the plane back to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport from Tenerife, repeatedly sneakily drank from the duty free bottle she had brought with her. During the three and a half hour flight in her plane rage she attacked her own partner, Christopher Kenny, struck a member of the cabin crew and asked alarmed passengers “what you looking at?”
Derek Jones, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court today that the incident happened on November 26 last year on board the flight due to land at 3.20 pm. The couple were sitting together but one of the cabin crew, Julie Pemberton, noticed Mr Kenny had his head in his hands.
“He indicated that he wished to move and that the defendant had been drinking vodka from the duty free bottle in her possession,” said Mr Jones. The mother-of-two, who had two drinks from the plane’s onboard trolley, was warned not to drink from the duty free bottle and Mr Kenny was moved to a seat in the middle of the aircraft away from her.
Mr Jones said that Beata Haynes, a very experienced member of the cabin crew, first noticed her when Bellis approached asking for a can of coke while she was wheeling the refreshment trolley down the aisle.
She was told to sit down and wait with Bellis apologising. But after she was served the coke Ms Haynes saw that she was pouring the vodka into it and she warned her not to do so. Then 20 minutes later she was told by other passengers that she was drinking the duty free booze.
“Matters escalated when she told her again not to drink the vodka and asked her to hand the vodka over. She argued and would not agree to that. Ms Haynes said she would tell the captain if she did not but to no avail,” said Mr Jones.
The pilot then reminded passengers they were not allowed to drink duty free on board and to obey the cabin crew’s instructions. Ms Pemberton spoke to the defendant who handed over the bottle but repeatedly asked for more alcohol.
Bellis kept getting up looking for Mr Kenny and called him a “wife beater”. He was again moved to another seat and a couple of times Ms Pemberton had to put herself between the warring couple.
“At one point the defendant started shouting at Ms Haynes, words to the effect, ‘what the f*** does she think she is”, because she refused to serve any more alcohol. After the tannoy announcement she also called her a t*** and a c***,” said Mr Jones.
Ms Pemberton saw her punching her own palm as if threatening before hitting Ms Haynes hand without causing any injury. The two crew members moved her away but she saw her partner and struck him to the side of the head and Ms Pemberton had to get between them and escort her back to her seat.
Bellis shouted to other passengers ‘what are you staring at’ and Ms Pemberton had to stop other passengers getting involved. “She described herself as babysitting the defendant for the 40 minutes left of the flight until the plane landed,” said Mr Jones.
“Ms Haynes says it was a very stressful situation and Ms Pemberton described Ms Haynes as being upset. The captain had to tannoy telling her (Bellis) to sit down in her seat.” When the plane landed waiting police officers arrested her and “they noticed she was drunk, slurring her words and unsteady on her feet. She was interviewed and made full admissions.
Mr Jones said: “She said she had drunk vodka prior to boarding, had another two on board and was then drinking out of the duty free bottle. She apologised for her actions and was remorseful for her actions and recognised her behaviour was unacceptable especially on board a plane full of other people.”
Pony tailed Bellis, from West Derby, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to two offences of common assault and being drunk on an aircraft. A more serious charge of acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or passengers was dropped. Callum Ross, defending, said that Bellis has no previous convictions and has been employed in a local cafe for 13 years and references spoke of her being “hard working, kind and family orientated.”
She and Mr Kenny are still in a relationship and he was in the public gallery supporting her, he said. She has started having talking therapy and described her behaviour that day as “the worst decision of her life.”
Sentencing her to four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months Judge Stuart Driver, KC, said that what she had done was “completely out of character” and she has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. “You showed immediate remorse and confessed straight away,” he said.