Craig Lowe 53

Description

A drunken passenger on a Jet2 flight from Manchester to Tenerife made lewd advances towards a woman sat next to him, asking her: "Are you going to f*** me then?"

Craig Lowe, 53, had consumed six small bottles of red wine during the four-and-a-half-hour flight on November 12, 2023. After some light-hearted 'banter', Lowe began making crude sexual remarks towards the woman, suggesting: "Would you come back to my hotel room so I can f*** you?" He then groped her inner thigh, according to what was heard in Manchester Crown Court.

Lowe, from Wigan, repeated his inappropriate question before the woman excused herself to use the toilet to escape his advances. Upon her return, she covered her lap with her hoodie.

However, Lowe proceeded to touch her thigh twice more, causing her to freeze before finally telling him to 'stop', which he eventually did.

Lowe also verbally assaulted another passenger who attempted to assist him after he dropped his phone, threatening him with: "I'm going to kill you... go on... I'll have you outside", as reported in court. His disruptive behaviour persisted even after they disembarked the plane and boarded the bus to the terminal, with the other passenger's wife pleading loudly: "Can someone get this man away from us."

In a personal victim statement read out in court by prosecutor Amy Weir, the woman expressed her distress, stating: "This journey was supposed to be a relaxing trip away with my family after ten sets of shifts. I am now anxious to travel and I'll never sit on my own again."

The woman said she was a nervous flier, and the incident made her feel worse.

She continued: "There was no CCTV on board which makes me more apprehensive about travelling - it means there is nowhere to go.

"I'm just grateful that this occurred towards the end of a four hour flight."

Jason Smith, defending, said his client was battling alcoholism at the time, which 'destroyed his life' and 'ended his marriage'.

"In a bid to reinvent himself and take a holiday, he continued drinking at the airport and acted in a completely disgraceful way," he said.

"He has no excuse."

Mr Smith said Lowe had since 'turned his life around' and given up alcohol, reports the Manchester Evening News. During sentencing, Judge Timothy Smith said: "She described that for the majority of the flight there was nothing untoward about your behaviour - you were 'fun'. That came to an end towards the end of the flight.

"This court sees too often examples of people who misbehave and drink to excess before going on a flight. Their behaviour, in a confined space, causes fear. They see people, such as yourself, in an intoxicated state, unable to control themselves.

"You say you are disgusted in yourself and your behaviour, and so you should be."

Judge Smith said that because the sentencing hearing was happening two years after the incident, and that Lowe had taken action to tackle his problems, he felt able to suspend a prison sentence. Lowe, from Lower Green Lane in Tyldesley, received a 28-week suspended sentence after admitting to boarding an aircraft while intoxicated and committing sexual assault.

He's been ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the next seven years.