[WATCH] Ryanair louts fined, handed suspended sentences

Eleven men from Scotland admit to being drunk on an aircraft before their arrival for the Lost and Found parties, taking place during the coming days. Police and sniffer dogs had to be called in to inspect the aircraft, causing delays and leaving hundreds of holidaymakers facing delays as a result

Eleven would-be attendees of the Lost and Found parties from the UK have been handed suspended sentences and fined after their drunken antics aboard a Ryanair flight arriving in Malta from Edinburgh
Eleven would-be attendees of the Lost and Found parties from the UK have been handed suspended sentences and fined after their drunken antics aboard a Ryanair flight arriving in Malta from Edinburgh

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Eleven would-be attendees of the Lost and Found parties from the UK have been handed suspended sentences and fined after their drunken antics aboard a Ryanair flight arriving in Malta from Edinburgh yesterday caused considerable knock-on delays.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech heard Inspector Silvio Magro accuse Josh Lovell, Christopher Norman Kennedy, David Conglaton, Peter Cusack, David Hannah Brooks, Craig Jardine, Scott McGinlay, Craig Niddrie, Liam Mcrae, Stuart James Smith and Francis Biggins of, amongst other things, recklessly endangering an aircraft, intentionally interfering with an aircraft crew, being drunk on  an aircraft and breaching the peace.

Charges against Biggins were withdrawn in this morning's sitting, however, the police saying there had been "no course of conduct."

The men had come to Malta to attend the Lost and Found parties organised by BBC DJ Annie Mac and should fly home on Tuesday. "You weren't lost but I found you in my courtroom," quipped Frendo Dimech, before severely reprimanding them.

"How could you undertake such conduct?" admonished the magistrate. "I hope you will be behaving yourselves during the remainder of your stay."  .

Lawyer Noel Cutajar, legal aid for the men, said the men were pleading guilty.

In view of guilty plea, the court handed the men a five month prison sentence suspended for three years, also fining them €1,000 each, to be paid within five months.

"You will not get away without paying this," the magistrate warned. "I will personally see to it that, unless the fine has been paid in full, you will be issued with financial penalty orders at your home in Scotland." 

Police and sniffer dogs had to be called to inspect the aircraft yesterda afternoon because of the group's disruptive behaviour, causing delays and leaving hundreds of holidaymakers waiting at Malta International Airport until a replacement crew could be found.

The Ryanair crew required police assistance after the revellers wrought havoc on the flight from Edinburgh. The ensuing delay and restrictions on the hours which pilots and crew can spend in the air led to the four-hour flight back to Edinburgh being cancelled. The airline was forced to find another crew to man the return flight to Scotland - resulting in a two-hour delay.

British media report one witness as saying “Unfortunately our inbound flight has seemingly several drunken passengers heading to a ‘rave’ in Malta this weekend.

A spokeswoman for Ryanair told the media that the crew of the flight from Edinburgh to Malta had requested police assistance upon arrival “after a number of passengers became disruptive in-flight.”

Drugs squad police are on the alert as hundreds of partygoers are set to join the Annie Mac parties, which are spread across the island over the weekend.