TUI flight rampage mum punched, kicked and bit cabin crew and passengers

Zoe Alexander’s behaviour was so bad she had to be placed in restraining equipment until the plane landed after she got plastered on brandy

A mum punched, kicked and bit cabin crew and passengers during a 90-minute drunken rampage on a TUI flight to Cuba.

Zoe Alexander’s behaviour was so bad she had to be placed in restraining equipment until the plane landed after she got plastered on brandy.

A court heard she ordered the drinks on the nine-hour flight to “knock her out” but began “talking loudly, slurring her words and being overly familiar with passengers and cabin crew”.

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Alexander, 36, was“swaying from one aisle to another” and after being told not to enter the premium areas by a female crew member she called her a “f****** b**** c***.”

Blaise Morris, prosecuting at Manchester crown court, said she was “generally rude and abusive” on the flight in August 2022.

He said her behaviour “deteriorated” six hours into the flight when she became verbally abusive with passengers sitting in the same row as her.

One woman, travelling with her husband, became so concerned for their children she pressed the assistance button.

A member of the crew attended and was able to “calm down” Alexander, albeit only “temporarily”. Her behaviour persisted and she continued to “sprawl” over other passengers and she “flew into a rage” when a cabin crew member suggested she sat up and watched a film.

The court heard she became “increasingly aggressive” and “wagged her finger” in the crew member’s face and she refused to listen to her colleagues’ pleas when she was told her behaviour was unacceptable.

Crew member Gerard Taylor brought the rarely-used “restraining kit” and attempted to reason with her, without success, and spotted a two-thirds empty bottle of brandy behind her chair.

Alexander repeatedly hit in TV screen on the seat in front of her while shouting ‘f*** you” and she continued to be abusive and aggressive.

Mr Morris said she caused “huge disruption and anxiety” during the flight and also tried to light a cigarette.

She pulled off the tie of the cabin crew member who stopped her, punched him in the stomach and told him: “F*** you.”

Alexander became so angry and aggressive, cabin crew were forced to restrain until the plane landed, Mr Morris said.

Crew member, Gerard Taylor, was punched and bitten on the hand as he tightened a pair of handcuffs and she also lashed out a passenger, Graham Murphy, who was providing assistance. Alexander told him: “I hope bad things happen to your children. I hope they die’.”

She was later escorted off the plane by Cuban police.

In victim impact statements, crew said they had “never experienced” such treatment. One said it was “the most frightening incident” she’d experienced in her 30 years as a flight attendant. Mr Murphy said it was “truly traumatic” for him and his children, and other passengers.

Alexander, of Hornchurch, Essex, had initially denied charges of being drunk on an aircraft and three counts of assault by beating but changed her pleas to guilty on the first day of her trial in March.

The court heard she has no previous convictions, but two cautions for theft and criminal damage, and of previous good character.

Her barrister, Eleanor Gleeson, said she had suffered mental health issues, including an emotional unstable personality disorder (EUPD), but accepted alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Ms Gleeson said Alexander was “horrified” by her behaviour and “recognises the significant impact it had on her victims that day”.

She pleaded for the judge to impose a suspended sentence, saying Alexander was the sole carer for her one-year-old son, and a custodial sentence would have a severe impact.

Ms Gleeson said Alexander had also suffered domestic abuse and cared for her father and feared for his well-being, saying: “I’d ask your honour to give her a chance essentially.”

Judge Paul Mason told Alexander that she’d behaved in an “inexcusable, obnoxious and aggressive” manner and in previous similar cases the defendant had been jailed “every single time”.

She ignored warnings and the advice of crew for 90 minutes as they tried to placate her. He said: “You were out-of-control, erratic, unpredictable and a danger to the other 300 passenger in the confined space of an aircraft cabin.”

He considered a “deterrent” custodial sentence, he said, but recognised the “clear” impact it would have. Instead he imposed a five-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and banned Alexander from travelling out of the UK for 12 months.

He also ordered her to attend 20 rehabilitation days and imposed a 90-day alcohol absence and monitoring requirement, along with £75 compensation for each of her victims.

Alexander smiled as she left court with her father, who’d watched on from the public gallery.