Man who sparked blaze on flight at 30,000ft given extra jail time
A drunken airline passenger from Kidderminster who spread mass terror when he started a fire at 33,000 feet has had his sentence more than doubled by top judges.
John Cox, 46, was travelling from Birmingham to Sharm El-Sheikh on board a Monarch Airlines jet when he threw a cigarette butt in a toilet bin.
An hour earlier mayhem had broken out when there was a similar “unrelated” toilet blaze, London’s Appeal Court heard.
Cabin crew had already used up one fire extinguisher and additional water fighting the first fire, Lady Justice Sharp said.
The pilot feared the crew might not be able to quell the second blaze, started by Cox, if it took hold. After a Mayday call, he put the plane into a sharp descent to stage an emergency landing.
A fire safety expert on board helped crew members bring the fire under control.
Cox, of Coates Road, Kidderminster, was belligerent and aggressive when confronted, but pleaded guilty to reckless arson at Birmingham Crown Court in March. He was jailed for four-and-a half years.
But, in an appeal, lawyers for the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC, attacked his punishment as far too lenient. Lady Justice Sharp agreed and upped the term to nine-and-a-half years.
She said: “This offence called for a deterrent sentence and condign punishment.”
Cox, was said to have been a “hard-working family man” of previous good character, who was under stress due to the break-up of his marriage. Although he did not intend to start a blaze, the judge said throwing a cigarette into the bin at 33,000 feet “came very close to deliberate fire-setting”.
