Drunk Scot ‘yelled bomb threat on plane just 12 hours after Brussels terror attacks’
Calum Lochhead, 26, was “steaming drunk” when he is alleged to have sparked panic moments before a flight to Glasgow
A FORMER Paratrooper yelled on a plane just 12 hours after the Brussels terror attacks, “I’ve got a bomb”, a court heard.
Calum Lochhead, 26, was “steaming drunk” when he allegedly sparked panic moments before a flight to Glasgow.
Terrified passengers were delayed for 40 minutes after being taken off flight EZY217 at Stanstead while officers searched the plane.
Lochhead pleaded not guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court to communicating to another or others information he knew or believed to be false that a bomb likely to explode was present on the plane.
The court heard how 12 hours earlier, two bombs had gone off at Brussels Airport and one on the Metro killing 32 and injuring dozens more.
Prosecutor Matthew Bagnall said: "The effect after he had uttered the words were cabin staff had to report it, the plane was disembarked and Lochhead was arrested and the plane departed sometime later."
Cabin crew member Lorna Villa told the court Lochhead was “intoxicated” and when he came on board the first thing he said to her was “all right s*****r?”
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She added: "“I told a colleague he was a wee bit intoxicated and all of a sudden I heard the word ‘bomb’ being shouted. I turned round and saw his arms in the air.
“I instantly spoke to him and said ‘You didn’t just say that did you knowing what happened earlier in the day (the Brussels bombings).’ He said ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’.”
But she said he later changed his attitude and denied saying the word bomb and claimed he had said ‘airborne' - a term used by regiment comrades.
Steel erector Lochhead, of Kilmarnock, was described as "five out of ten drunk" and allegedly blurted out the comment as the engines were starting.
The trial continues.
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