Air-rage trial told of insults by two drunken policemen

IT IS not only the quantity of alcohol, but also the quality of in-flight movie that can trigger air rage, it seems. Two policemen on board a transatlantic flight appeared in court yesterday accused of intimidating and verbally abusing fellow passengers after consuming copious amounts of gin and whisky - and watching a screening of The Full Monty.

Inspector Gareth Perrett, 49, and his son, Constable Richard Perrett, 26, who both serve with the West Yorkshire force, referred to two elderly widows as "dykes" and mocked them for not watching the British hit film about male strippers, it was alleged yesterday.

One of their alleged victims, Helen Bartlett, 78, of Newcastle-under- Lyme, Staffordshire, told Manchester Crown Court: "They called us `dykes' and that upset me greatly because my husband had not been dead very long ... When the film came on I was not interested in it because it was The Full Monty, but they were laughing uproariously about the film and they started to get personal.

"They started to say, `Why aren't these watching in front?' and `Why aren't they having a drink?' We were immediately in front of them. One of the men had their feet across the aisles and women had step over him. One of the men remarked: `I wouldn't mind getting her between my loins'."

Ian Metcalfe, for the prosecution, said of the defendants: "It may be that their behaviour was not assisted by the choice of in-flight movie ... Behaviour that may be just boorish can become distressing and even threatening for persons who have no choice but to be in close proximity for a considerable period of time."

Insp Perrett and his son were arrested in February last year, with their friend Peter Beck, 55, a publican, shortly after the Britannia Airways Boeing 767 touched down at Manchester airport. The three men, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, had been on a golfing holiday in Florida. Yesterday they pleaded not guilty to drunkenness on an aircraft.

Mr Metcalfe said the drinks served on the flight were not the defendants' "only source of liquor". "One passenger saw Richard Perrett in possession of a litre bottle of gin he was handing out amongst his group."

As the seven-and-a-half-hour flight went on, the three defendants' behaviour deteriorated. "They became more noisy and rowdy and their behaviour became abusive and aggressive towards other passengers who complained," Mr Metcalfe said.

The second complainant, 71-year old Betty Bailey, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, told the court the defendants had started drinking before the aircraft took off. "They were bragging and showing off ... I think they were all trying to intimidate us."

The two women were eventually given new seats. The three men, who refused to surrender their passports when asked to do so by a stewardess, only quietened down after the pilot had spoken to them.

The trial continues.