Air Rage

Aircraft forced to make emergency landing after drunken groom Mohammed Khelya threatens crew on honeymoon flight to Cuba


Mohammed Khelya told staff 'I'm going to kill you and I'm going to kill everyone after' as he tried to see his new wife who had changed seats to get away from him

A British man bound for Cuba on honeymoon has instead started his married life alone in Bermuda after drunkenly threatening the flight crew and forcing an emergency landing, with his new wife continuing on without him.

Mohammed Khelya, from Blackburn, Lancashire, had been drinking from a bottle of duty-free vodka before commencing an argument with his wife that led to him being handcuffed, taken to the rear of the aircraft and forcing its unscheduled landing in Bermuda, prosecutors said.

Appearing on Tuesday at a court in Hamilton, Khelya pleaded guilty to being drunk on the aircraft and to threatening flight staff.

The 22-year-old and his wife were among 311 passengers on board a Thomas Cook flight, which set out from Manchester International Airport earlier this week. Several hours into the flight, after his wife changed seats to get away from him, Khelya appealed unsuccessfully to a crew member to see her.

"I'm going to kill you and I'm going to kill everyone after," Khelya told a crew member, prosecutors said, in an expletive-ridden tirade. As flight attendants moved a handcuffed Khelya to the back of the plane, he spat at other passengers, prosecutors said. Diverted to the L.F. Wade International Airport, the flight was greeted by police officers, who escorted Khelya off the plane.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo fined Khelya $2,000 (£1,272) for being drunk on the aircraft and another $1,000 (£637) for his behaviour towards flight staff. Khelya is expected to fly home to Lancashire today. "I don't know how I'm going to forgive myself," he said in court on Tuesday. Referring to his bride, who is already thought to have returned home, he added: "I don't know how she's going to forgive me".