BA bans Campbell for life

Naomi Campbell has been banned for life from British Airways. The supermodel, 37, was arrested on a plane at Heathrow's chaotic Terminal 5 last Thursday on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, after a row between her and BA staff over a missing bag.

The officer had boarded the Los Angeles-bound jet to try to defuse the situation after Ms Campbell, who has a history of reacting violently to provocation, defied cabin crew requests to calm down.

The supermodel, wearing a cap bearing the prison number of the former South African president Nelson Mandela from his time in Robben Island, was removed from the plane in handcuffs. After being questioned by police, Ms Campbell was freed on bail. She has not been charged.

A BA spokesman said: "All incidents of abusive or disruptive behaviour towards passengers or staff are taken extremely seriously and will not be tolerated."

Yesterday, Ms Campbell's publicist said: "Naomi has been flying with BA for nearly 30 years and has been a good customer. She hopes this can be resolved amicably."

Rumours that Ms Campbell had been abusive to BA staff or spat at a police officer have not been proven. Her spokesperson said: "On the plane, she was told one bag was missing. British Airways decided to resolve this by insisting she leave the flight and called the police and forcibly ejected her. So far as we are aware, BA have still failed to offer any explanation as to why her bag went missing."

After previous incidents, Ms Campbell had to attend anger management classes. Last year, she spent five days mopping floors in New York as part of her community service for the "reckless assault" of throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper, Ana Scolavino.