The court heard James Glen had been anxious about flying and had consumed alcohol A man has been jailed for three years after admitting a hoax that triggered a bomb scare on an airliner heading to Britain from the Middle East.
James Glen, 38, admitted communicating information about a bomb hoax on an Etihad Airways flight heading from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow on 24 January.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard he told a flight attendant a passenger had a gun and had threatened to blow himself up.
The plane was redirected to Stansted Airport and two RAF Typhoons scrambled.
The jets escorted the plane, which was carrying 163 passengers and 15 crew, into the Essex airport.
It was flying on the day that 35 people died in a suicide bomb attack at Moscow’s busiest airport.
Glen had been living in Australia for 18 years and was returning to the UK to start a job working on rally cars in Chard, Somerset.
Duncan Penny, representing Glen, said his client had a history of depression and had consumed alcohol and taken an anti-histamine drug.
Mr Penny said Glen was on his first flight in 20 years, had expressed a fear of flying and was tired.
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