A drunken plumber became so violent when he was asked to turn off porn he was displaying on his laptop computer it took six people to restrain him, a court has heard.

Ian Bottomley 36, of Larch Grove, Witham, eventually had to be sedated and handcuffed into his seat after trying to head-butt and punch cabin crew on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow Airport, a jury at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, was told.

The trouble started when a member of the cabin crew asked Bottomley to turn off pornography he was looking at on his laptop computer because it was offending fellow passengers.

Edward Lewis, prosecuting, said Bottomley, who had already been refused alcohol as he appeared intoxicated, began ranting and swearing.

He then jumped on to his seat and began shouting: "You're all gay and full of Aids" before lunging at a male crew member and trying to punch him.

Bottomley wrestled with the man in the aisle and attempted to head-butt him and, managed, on one occasion, to bite him, Mr Lewis said.

He denies endangering Flight BA056 to Heathrow from Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 16 this year. He also denies one charge of affray, one of assault causing actual bodily harm, and one of being drunk on board an aircraft.

The captain eventually appealed over the public address system for any passengers who had served in the Army or police to help the crew restrain Bottomley.

Captain Fleming said in his opinion his behaviour endangered the aircraft, Mr Lewis told the jury.

Passenger Pauline Jones, who was sitting with Bottomley, told the court she thought her fellow-passenger was either "drunk or mental".

Mrs Jones, who was returning from a holiday in South Africa with her husband, said: "I was terrified. I thought he was putting the aircraft in danger."

Mr Lewis told the jury: "This is one of the most disturbing and prolonged examples of this sort of conduct heard in these courts. When attempts were made to restrain him, he behaved like a caged wild animal. He had to be strapped to his seat and even then he didn't calm down.

"Everything was done to avoid him injuring himself such was his delirium. He tried to head-butt the seats in front of him - and these had to be crowbarred and removed."

The case continues

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