Jeffrey ‘Tanner’ Libby, 21, (pictured) had just been dumped by text when he grabbed a litre of Bacardi and attacked BA cabin crew and staff
A Texan student who single-handedly diverted a transatlantic jet after downing a litre of Bacardi and attacking BA staff and passengers has been jailed for six months.
Jeffrey ‘Tanner’ Libby, 21, had just been dumped by text and started drinking heavily when the flight back to the US hit turbulence shortly after leaving Heathrow on December 17 last year.
Libby spat at people, assaulted a BA air hostess and bit the hand of a passenger who tried to restrain him on a packed flight to America.
As the fracas ensued the pilot was forced to turn back to London and the Boeing 777 jettisoned 20 tonnes of fuel costing the airline hundreds of thousands of pounds before landing.
Hundreds of innocent passengers were also delayed as they tried to get home to the US for Christmas.
The trouble began when Libby began to punch and kick the seat of a passenger in front of him, which he believed was being moved backwards into him.
Members of the aircrew then came to Libby to ask him to calm down and his drunken behaviour was caught on camera by shocked passengers.
Libby, from Dallas, Texas, admitted three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of drunkenness on an aircraft and was jailed for six months at Isleworth Crown Court.
Olu Phillips, prosecuting, told Isleworth Crown Court: ‘He was speaking increasingly loudly and swearing. He reached across the aisle to a female passenger, grabbing her by the arm and squeezing it.
‘She is the victim of the first assault. Members of the crew then came over to him'.
