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Date Published: 27/09/2022

ARCHIVED - British Ryanair passenger arrested for sexual assault aboard flight to Spain

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The 35-year-old Briton grabbed a female passenger’s breast minutes before the plane touched down in Mallorca

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - British Ryanair passenger arrested for sexual assault aboard flight to Spain

A 35-year-old British traveller has been arrested in Spain and fined more than 2,800 euros for allegedly sexually assaulting a female passenger sitting next to him on a Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Mallorca.

According to local reports, the suspect began making sexual remarks to the woman, also British, minutes before the plane touched down in La Palma. He put his hand on her shoulder and after she removed it, the man touched her breast over her clothes.

One source described the bizarre incident: “The British woman said a stranger she'd never met in her life who sat down on the plane beside her started to bother her with comments about her breasts minutes into the flight and even suggested they go to the toilets together.

“She said he made a number of sexist comments during the flight and shortly before the plane landed, touched her shoulder and then one of her breasts”.

The shocked passenger immediately reported the molestation to the cabin crew, who radioed ahead to the airport. She was moved to a different seat for the duration of the flight, Ryanair has confirmed, and the man was arrested by waiting police officers when the aircraft landed in Mallorca.

The witness continued: “She asked members of the air crew for help who alerted the Civil Guard through airport control.

“Officers were waiting by the plane when it landed and the woman went up to them and explained briefly what had happened before accompanying police to make a full formal statement.

“The man was arrested at the scene.”

A spokesperson for the Guardia Civil in Palma confirmed that the Briton was arrested on Sunday night, September 25, on suspicion of a crime of sexual abuse and that he was taken to court in the island’s capital on Monday morning “after a night in a police cell.”

Image: Archive

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