A 30-year-old woman has admitted to exposing herself while drunk in full view of other passengers during a flight. Sarah Parker, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, appeared before Manchester Magistrates Court, where she pleaded guilty to outraging public decency.
Incident on TUI flight TOM 664
Parker was travelling to Melbourne, Australia, from Birmingham Airport via the packed TUI flight TOM 664 on July 24 last year. Despite being instructed to remain seated, Parker, who boarded the plane drunk, disobeyed the pilot and got out of her seat during take-off to use the bathroom. Cabin crew informed her she was not allowed to do so.
It was then that she pulled down both her shorts and underwear and stood in the aisle where fellow travellers could see her. The charge stated that she behaved in an indecent manner by 'pulling down her shorts and underwear, squatting and exposing her vagina in full view of other passengers'.
Additional charges and court remarks
Parker also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the pilot's lawful safety instructions and to being intoxicated on a plane. This charge stated that she 'failed to obey a lawful command, namely sitting in her seat after being instructed to do so and making her way to the toilet'.
District judge Simon Blakebrough told her: 'Exposing yourself on a plane full of passengers is quite serious.'
Sentencing adjourned
Her sentencing has been adjourned until November 3. Penalties for public indecency can range from fines to jail time, depending on culpability and harm caused or intended. Being drunk and disruptive on an aircraft can also be punished with fines up to £5,000 and a maximum of two years' imprisonment.
