An 'air rage' passenger given a three-year jail term after biting a steward on board a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow failed last week in an Appeal Court bid to clear his name.

Ian James Bottomley, 39, of Larch Grove, Witham, left his teeth marks in the arm of his unfortunate victim, but denied accusations that he was drunk at the time, the court was told.

But in May last year at Isleworth Crown Court he was convicted of endangering the safety of an aircraft, affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and being drunk aboard an aircraft.

Bottomley claimed the convictions were "unsafe and unsatisfactory" and the jail term "manifestly excessive..

But Mr Justice Hidden, sitting with Lord Justice Henry and Mr Justice Astill, refused him leave to appeal.

The judge described how on January 16 last year trouble broke out after cabin crew remonstrated with a passenger sitting next to Bottomley who was "watching porn on a laptop computer".

Bottomley began "complaining and screaming" and the senior steward was called to "resolve the matter..

Bottomley's response was "to bite him so that the marks were still visible when a doctor examined him later".

"The teeth marks went straight into his arm."

Other passengers helped members of the crew to restrain Bottomley who "struggled violently" until pacified.

Mr Justice Hidden said Bottomley "denied being drunk," He claimed he fell against the chief steward by accident and had reacted in self-defence after being attacked by several people.

Bottomley agreed he had been depressed at the time.

But the sentencing judge said his behaviour was "appalling and terrifying to the other passengers, who did not have the option of leaving the plane".

Mr Justice Hidden said Bottomley's criticisms of lawyers who represented him at trial were wholly unjustified and there was nothing unsafe about his convictions.

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