Four men have been jailed for a CS gas attack at Heathrow Airport that left passengers vomiting blood and caused hours of disruption. The attack on December 7 last year saw masked men spray what was believed to be CS gas into a lift at an airport car park at 8am, before stealing two women's suitcases.
Five of the 21 victims required medical treatment, including a woman sprayed in the face before her suitcase was taken. Terminal 3 was closed for hours, causing major delays for train and shuttle bus passengers.
Sentences handed down at Isleworth Crown Court
In June, Tyrone Richards, 31, Anton Clarke-Butcher, 25, Omoneke Whyte, 31, and Denzel Eduardo, 29, pleaded guilty to affray at Isleworth Crown Court. Richards was jailed for 27 months, Whyte and Eduardo for 23 months each, and Clarke-Butcher for 21 months.
Judge Kwame Inyundo said: "Individuals were targeted by you as a group and the violence used in the incident was serious and sustained."
Victims describe terrifying ordeal
The court heard that two women in the lift had arrived on a flight from South Africa, along with two men who had met them at the airport. The defendants were unable to enter the wider terminal as "innocent parties ran away from the lift in some distress". When the lift reached the ground floor, the gas was sprayed, causing "difficulties for people at a Caffè Nero nearby".
One barista told the court she started coughing and vomiting blood, saying she was scared as she "felt fine one minute and then almost instantly unwell". Others caught in the crossfire needed hospital treatment after coming into contact with the substance, which is widely used by police forces as tear gas.
The defendants followed the two women to an airport taxi forecourt and stole their suitcases, which were never recovered. One woman was left "coughing and choking" after being sprayed in the face at close range.
Judge highlights determined interest in suitcases
The judge said the group "had a particular and determined interest" in the women's suitcases. "Your group followed and confronted the pair (of women) who tried to get a taxi," Judge Inyundo said. "Your group threatened violence to them and took the suitcases from them."
A customer service agent at Terminal 3 said she "felt dizzy and like I was going to pass out" and that a woman in a wheelchair she was assisting "was struggling to breathe and using an inhaler". A mother just off a flight from South Africa with her 14-month-old son said her child started to cough, telling the court: "I was immediately afraid for my baby's safety and my own safety".
A man ordering a taxi said "20 to 30 people were all coughing" after the incident and he was "struggling to breathe". Gary Rutter, prosecuting, said he "could not say exactly what led to this incident", but "one may suspect what was going on". He added the incident left "members of the public, coughing, vomiting, and some vomited blood".
Richards was arrested and detained while still at the airport, while his three fellow gang members were later identified and arrested separately. The court heard the "evidence is not clear as to who deployed the gas", but each man accepted their involvement in the joint enterprise.
Eduardo has 12 previous convictions for 18 offences, with his lawyer previously saying he would have "not agreed to take part in any activity involving such a substance" and expressing "deep remorse". Representing Whyte, Rushnay Sikander said he was "very remorseful" and told the court Whyte had a "traumatic childhood" which saw his father murdered when he was five, as well as being the victim of three separate stabbings. Clarke-Butcher, who has 14 convictions for 31 offences, was represented by Shanda McAteer, who said he denied releasing the gas and "genuinely expresses remorse".
