Drunken passenger who ‘tried to expose himself’ on flight spared jail

A drunken British holidaymaker who attempted to expose himself on a flight from Spain to Manchester has been given a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Jack Breheny, an unemployed 32-year-old from Burnage, ran topless down the aisle of the Jet2 plane and fell over when police arrested him, Manchester crown court heard.

He was spared a prison sentence after his defence counsel told the court he was ‘deeply ashamed’ of his ‘disgraceful behaviour’, for which he was roundly admonished by Judge Suzanne Goddard KC.

‘Your behaviour was appalling,’ said Judge Goddard. ‘It’s the sort of behaviour that caused distress and upset for those on the plane, having to watch the way you behaved.’ 

The judge noted, however, that Breheny, who admitted a charge of being drunk on an aircraft, was neither violent nor threatening and had no previous convictions, adding that there was a ‘good prospect of rehabilitation’. 

Police were called to the aircraft moments after it touched down on October 3 last year following reports from flight attendants that Breheny had been running up and down the aisle ‘trying to expose himself’ to shocked fellow passengers.

His twin brother, who had taken him on a week-long break to the Spanish resort town of Salou to help him get over a relationship break-up, ‘prevented this to an extent’, said the prosecution.

‘Shouting and screaming’, Breheny then locked himself in a toilet. The defence said he had been shouting because he was too drunk to unlock the door, adding that his accidental plight was ‘an indicator of the state of his inebriation’.

Jack Breheny, an unemployed 32-year-old from Burnage in Mancester, has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence after ‘trying to expose himself’ on a Jet2 flight from Spain

Breheny was said by police who boarded the plane on its arrival at Manchester airport to be ‘heavily intoxicated’. His barrister said he was ‘deeply ashamed’ of his actions

While initial suggestions that Breheny was armed with ‘plastic shards’ proved unfounded, police who boarded the aircraft said ‘it was immediately obvious [he] was heavily intoxicated’, noted the prosecution. 

The court heard that Breheny offered his hands to the officers, saying: ‘Take me.’ 

Once handcuffed, however, he fell over and began to resist, according to a police statement. He was conveyed to a waiting van and put in a cell following his arrival at the airport police station after threatening officers, the court heard.

‘The idea was to have a week’s break,’ said defence barrister Adam Roxborough. ‘That’s the context in which this offending took place. 

‘Mr Breheny accepts this was disgraceful behaviour. He’s expressed to me he’s deeply ashamed of his behaviour. He knows it will have caused a significant degree of anxiety for a number of people on the flight.’

Mr Roxborough asked the judge to accept the probation service’s recommendation of a community sentence, submitting that Mr Breheny had acknowledged a ‘problem’ with drinking and sought help to address it. 

Pointing out that his client ‘did not seek to prevaricate’ and had freely admitted his guilt, Mr Roxborough also alluded to an unspecified ‘event’ in Breheny’s youth that was ‘likely to have had a significant impact on his adult life’. 

Mr Roxborough said Breheny, whom the court heard consumed cocaine, had been ‘Self-medicating, if I can put it that way.’

In addition to a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, Mr Breheny, of Briarlea Gardens in Burnage, was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. He was also told to complete an alcohol treatment programme.