Craig Lowe had been drinking before boarding the four-and-a-half hour Jet2 flight from Manchester to Tenerife, before reportedly consuming six mini bottles of red wine
A drunken passenger sexually harassed a woman seated next to him on a flight, asking her: “Are you going to f*** me then?”. Craig Lowe, 53, had consumed six mini bottles of red wine during the four-and-a-half-hour Jet2 flight from Manchester to Tenerife on November 12, 2023.
After some light-hearted ‘banter’, Lowe started making vulgar sexual remarks towards her, propositioning her with: “Would you come back to my hotel room so I can f*** you?”.
He then groped her inner thigh, Manchester Crown Court was told. Lowe, from Wigan, repeated his crude question: “Are you going to f*** me then?” before she excused herself to the toilet to escape his advances.
Upon returning, she covered her lap with her hoodie. Lowe proceeded to grab her thigh twice more, causing her to freeze before finally telling him to ‘stop’, which he eventually did.
Lowe then 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”, the court heard, Manchester Evening News reports.
His unruly behaviour persisted even as they disembarked the plane and boarded the bus to the terminal, with the other passenger’s wife loudly pleading: “Can someone get this man away from us.”
In a victim impact statement read out in court by prosecutor Amy Weir, the woman expressed: “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 revealed she was an anxious flyer, and the incident only heightened her fears. She went on to say: “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.”
Defending, Jason Smith explained that his client was battling alcoholism at the time, which “ruined his life” and “ended his marriage”.
“In an attempt to remake himself and take a break, he carried on drinking at the airport and behaved in a thoroughly reprehensible manner” he stated. “He has no excuse.” Mr Smith mentioned that Lowe had since “rebuilt his life” and given up alcohol.
During sentencing, Judge Timothy Smith remarked: “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.”
Judge Smith noted that due to the fact the sentencing hearing was taking place two years after the incident, and that Lowe had taken steps to address his issues, he felt able to suspend a prison sentence.
Lowe, from Lower Green Lane in Tyldesley, received a 28-week suspended sentence for 12 months 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 is also required to register on the Sex Offenders’ Register for a period of seven years.
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