A police constable warned an air hostess never to drive through West Yorkshire after she refused to serve him a bottle of gin, it was claimed in Court today.

PC Richard Perrett, 26, who is based at Odsal police station, is accused of drunkenness on board an aircraft along with his father, Inspector David Perrett, 49, who is based in Halifax, and pub landlord Peter Beck, 55.

They deny being drunk on board the Britannia Airways flight from Orlando to Manchester Airport on February 7 last year.

Cabin manager Angela Meddings told the jury at Manchester Crown Court how Perrett approached her to ask for a bottle of gin and 10 cans of tonic. She told him he could not consume the bottle during the flight. She said: "He then produced a warrant card and said words to the effect of 'Come on, we're all in this together, you're one of us, we're all on the same team'."

She told him it was not the airline's policy to drink from litre bottles. She then told the jury: "He said 'Never come to West Yorkshire or never drive through West Yorkshire.' It appeared to be a threat."

Ms Meddings said that during the incident, which occurred four hours into the flight, she did not consider Perrett to be drunk and allowed him to purchase six miniature bottles of alcohol.

The court was told the airline captain had called ahead that police would be required upon landing at Manchester after complaints about their progressively rowdy behaviour from his cabin crew.

PC Terry Conforth said he had boarded the plane and had cautioned the three men for drunkenness. They were swaying and had red, glazed eyes and slurred speech, he said.

The defence team say their clients were suffering jet lag which accounted for their appearance and uncoordinated movements. The trial continues

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.