Sedatives given to a plumber who flew into an attack of air rage after being told to stop ogling porn on a laptop computer aboard a jumbo jet had little effect, a court heard.

Ian Bottomley, of Larch Grove, Witham, was so aggressive a doctor thought he could be suffering from a psychiatric condition, a jury at Isleworth Crown Court was told.

Two doctors on the plane gave Bottomley sedatives which would normally cause a person to fall asleep - but it had no effect.

The court has already heard Bottomley had "behaved like a caged, wild animal" and had to be restrained by six people.

Passengers and crew attempted to restrain him by handcuffing him, strapping him down and taping his mouth. He was given sedatives.

Bottomley became temporarily quiet, but the effects soon wore off, and in desperation the passengers gave him sleeping pills which also had little effect.

Dr Rainer Matejka, from Germany, who was on the flight, told the jury: "He looked like an aggressive man but he was also in a dangerous situation, not only for himself, but also for the plane.

"I saw the passenger fixed by straps and cuffs. I examined him. He was aggressive but it seemed like delirium. It could have been caused by alcoholic drinks or lack of alcoholic drinks."

Bottomley was injected with Diazepam. The drug came from the jet's medical kit in the hope it would relax Bottomley. Normally a person would fall asleep, but Bottomley did not.

South African-trained Dr Gregory Minnaar, who works at Birmingham Children's Hospital, said she was sitting towards the front of the plane when the commotion began.

"I thought the passenger was very aggressive, so strong, so violent in such a way I thought there might be something medically wrong," she said.

"I thought he was acting in a psychotic type of way and I thought he might have been intoxicated with something."

South African-born Bottomley, 36, denies endangering flight BA056 on its way to Heathrow from Johannesburg on January 16 this year.

He also denies a charge of affray, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and being drunk on board an aircraft.

The trial continues.

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