Drunken yob jailed for wrestling with cabin crew after pinching champagne on flight back to Doncaster Sheffield Airport

A drunken yob who wrestled with cabin crew staff after pinching a bottle of champagne on a flight back to Doncaster has been jailed.
Doncaster Sheffield AirportDoncaster Sheffield Airport
Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Daniel Beacock, aged 43, who downed the equivalent of ten shots of Smirnoff vodka before the violence flared, was arrested after landing in South Yorkshire.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Beacock put the flight in ‘jeopardy’ while he was on his way back from Ibiza.

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But brazen Beacock gloated on Facebook just hours before that he was having a ‘party’ in the Sheffield Crown Court precinct.

A picture he posted appeared to show him drinking Smirnoff vodka from a water bottle.

It read: “Sheffield Crown, Smirnoff in a water bottle. There’s a party over here.”

But the ‘party’ quickly turned sour as Judge Paul Watson QC sent him to prison for four months.

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Michael Tooley, prosecuting, said Beacock had boarded the Thompson flight from Ibiza to Doncaster Sheffield Airport on May 25 this year where cabin crew were alerted to him drinking his own vodka and took it off him saying he could have it back at the end of the journey.

Mr Tooley said: "That was not the end of the matter. Later in the flight the defendant was seen to take a bottle of champagne from the duty free trolley. The defendant was advised to put the bottle back. He didn't, and there was an argument between cabin crew and the defendant."

The court heard the defendant was shouting and people had to move from their seats.

Beacock was arrested after landing and initially denied he was abusive or threatening and told police he was just ‘a bit tipsy’.

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Craig Lowe, defending, said Beacock was ‘sorry and thoroughly ashamed’ of what he had done and his judgement was ‘clouded’ due to drink.

Mr Lowe said: “The defendant has no relevant previous convictions and volunteers in the community three times a week as a boxing coach helping disadvantaged children.”

Sentencing Beacock to four months in prison, Judge Watson QC said: “At 43 years of age you should know better. Your actions put this flight in jeopardy.

“People who work on aircraft work hard to keep their passengers safe and the last thing they needed was to deal with your drunken violence.”

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After Judge Watson QC handed the sentence, Beacock said: “Oh, does that mean prison then?”

He was led away to the cells and waved to a friend in the public gallery.

Beacock, of Alvingham Road, Scunthorpe, had pleaded guilty to two charges under the Civil Aviation Act 2009.