British Airways flight diverted after drunken student bites passenger and attacks cabin crew

Police say 'extremely reckless' behaviour 'put the safety of the passengers and crew on board at risk'

Jeffrey Libby was jailed for six months for attacking crew and passengers on a flight from Heathrow (Metropolitan Police)

An American student has been jailed for six months after biting a passenger in a drunken rage on a British Airways flight, forcing the plane to be diverted.

Jeffrey Libby, 21, became “aggressive and abusive” after drinking a bottle of Barcadi rum he had brought on board the flight from Heathrow to Dallas.

As airline staff tried to calm him down he assaulted two passengers and a crew member, “scratching and striking them and even biting one of the passenger's fingers,” the Metropolitan Police said.

Staff restrained Libby and the captain turned the plane around just an hour after taking off out of concerns "concerns for the safety of the crew and passengers on board", the force added.

Libby, of Forth Worth, Texas, was arrested as the plane arrived back at Heathrow on 17 December last year.

Isleworth Crown Court heard he began drinking after being dumped by his girlfriend over text while waiting to board the plane. After the flight took off, he began kicking and punching the seat in front of him.

Libby pleaded guilty to three counts of common assault, one count of being drunk on board an aircraft, and one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words towards cabin crew.

He was jailed on Wednesday, and was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £415 in costs.

Detective Inspector Matt East, from the Met's aviation policing unit, said: "Libby's behaviour was extremely reckless and he put the safety of the passengers and crew on board at risk.

"Not only that, but his actions caused considerable disruption and inconvenience for all those on board, and the airline had to rearrange flights for the 191 other passengers.

"Drunken, abusive and violent behaviour on board any flight is completely unacceptable. Anyone behaving in this way should know that it will not be tolerated by the crew and that they can expect to be arrested, put before the courts and could face several months behind bars."