An airline passenger who battered her partner with punches and headbutts after downing 16 cans of wine on a flight has been jailed.
Hairdresser and mother-of-two, 59, attacked Steven White on the nine-hour flight from Miami to London Heathrow this year in what was described as a ‘terrifying’ experience for other passengers.
The couple appeared to get into an altercation after Baker turned around and ‘started to try and have a conversation with those seated around her, speaking very loudly, slurring her words,’ her trial heard.
When other passengers did not respond, Baker told one: ‘F*** you then.’
Prosecutor Thomas Blackburn said that after White tried to calm Baker down, she was ‘seen to assault her partner by trying to headbutt him and elbowing him a few times, and punching him’.
After passengers tried to intervene, Baker, who lives in a £200,000 three-bed home in Lincoln, bragged: ‘I will be going back to my big house and you will be going back to your council houses.’
Wearing a black coat and black trousers with black high-heeled shoes, Baker appeared at Isleworth Crown Court today, where she was jailed for three months.
She admitted to being drunk on an aircraft, racially aggravated harassment and using threatening or abusive words to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
Baker, of Lincoln, East Midlands, admitted being drunk on an aircraft, racially aggravated harassment and using threatening or abusive words to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
She denied but was convicted of assault by beating after a short trial.
Mr Blackburn said during the flight on February 9, Baker turned around and started yelling at fellow passengers accusing them of kicking her seat.
She ‘started to try and have a conversation with those seated around her, speaking very loudly and slurring her words,’ the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor added: ‘Her partner tried to calm her down at which point she got in his face and shouted: ‘What the f*ck did you say.’
‘She is then seen to assault her partner by trying to headbutt him and elbowing him a few times, and punching him.
‘He has then put his arms up to protect himself and he has had to call for assistance from cabin staff.’
Baker moved to the back of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and was told by flight attendants to calm down.
Mr Blackburn said: ‘She was intoxicated. She then continued to shout. When a passenger told her to shut up, she responded: ‘Oh f**k off then.’
Baker then yelled at passenger Jodie Tristram: ‘You are a cocky b***h. Look at that ugly b***h who does she think she is, Cruella de Ville?’
Mr Baker added: ‘Police entered when the aircraft landed. Cabin crew stated that during flight, she consumed 16 cans of wine.
‘The defendant stated she was ordering the cans for herself and her partner’s family but cabin crew noticed she was keeping the cans to herself.’
Mr Baker said fellow passengers ‘were left terrified’ throughout the nine-hour flight, and that Ms Tristam was left ‘seriously distressed.’
He said Baker’s partner had put forward in trial that ‘he was not assaulted’, but that the evidence of other passengers contradicted that.
Ms Tristam said in a victim impact statement: ‘I had travelled to Miami to celebrate my 30th birthday.
‘On the flight back I had to endure the behaviour of a drunk and abusive passenger.
‘We were on our descent back to London when she was standing up and walking around and nobody was saying anything.
‘I had enough of her and I told her to stop her behaviour. When she abused me she made me feel angry and upset.
‘I had already seen her hit someone so I felt scared. My anxiety was through the roof at that point.
‘I had another plan to attend a wedding in Dublin which I had to fly to, and then I started getting flashbacks.
‘I didn’t realise how much this had affected me as a result of the trauma this female had caused to me and everyone else on the flight. I was proscribed diazepam to control my anxiety.
‘The incident has certainly put me off booking another flight.’
Baker was of previous good character, the court heard.
Sucheta Rose, defending, said: ‘She has known her partner for many years. They have known each other since the age of nine.
‘During their holiday, there had been some issues between Miss Baker and her partner’s father.
‘He had been drinking on the holiday, insulting members of the public. She tried to calm down her father-in-law when he boarded the plane.
‘Miss Baker did not enter the plane drunk. She had taken prescribed Prozac. She had been suffering from depression and anxiety.
‘We are talking about high-altitude too.
‘During the flight, she is quite clear that her father-in-law had been pushing her seat, and his drink fell all over her.
‘She asked him to apologise and she did. That should have been the line where it ended.
‘Her anxiety and frustration increased. She became emotional. Miss Baker said she felt much better having spoken to the crew member at the back of a plane.
‘She was offered a cup of tea and went back to her seat, but unfortunately, things didn’t calm down from her in-laws.
‘She then ordered wine and she was continuously served wine during that flight. This was a long flight.
‘The behaviour that occurred happened at the tail end of the flight.
‘She felt confined in this aircraft. She was not able to get away from the dispute that had been initiated by her father-in-law.’
‘She does understand how it must have felt to be somebody else on that aircraft.
‘She works as a mobile hairdresser, and she has loyal clients.
‘This case has attracted attention in the national media. The way the media reported this was sensationalist.
‘Her friends and family have read what happened, and there has been an outpouring of support from her friends and family, which is why there are so many character references.
‘There is nothing but regret in her mind. She is looking into cognitive behavioural therapy.
‘If she goes to prison, what is most worrying about this is who will look after her mother.
‘If she is sent to custody, the impact it will have on her family and friends will be enormous.
‘A 14-year-old autistic boy, her neighbour, has also written a character reference for Miss Baker.’
Passing sentence, Judge Sunaina Kaur Srai-Chohan said: ‘This was a prolonged, abusive and violent display of behaviour within the confines of an aeroplane, putting you, the other passengers and the cabin crew at risk.’
The judge added: ‘There was a deliberate decision by you to drink the alcohol and such large quantities of it.’
Although the judge took into account Baker’s remorsefulness and the fact that she was a carer for her mother, she said only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified for the seriousness of the offence.
The judge added: ‘The safety of passengers and crew are put in jeopardy when incidents like this occur. The consequences can be catastrophic.
‘The public are trapped with nowhere to go and sentences must be deterrent.’
Baker was also ordered to pay £500 in costs.
