Jessica Van Meir has revealed how she was targeted by a stranger on a Virgin flight

A legal expert on sex attacks has revealed how she was targeted by strangers on a Virgin Atlantic flight who sent her harassing messages directly to her seat's screen.

Jessica Van Meir, from Atlanta, Georgia, shared images of the exchange on Twitter after the flight on Saturday, where one passenger nine rows away told her she was a 'tidy babe'.

One person said: 'Welcome to hell' after another passenger calling himself 'big d*** swinger' appeared to egg on her harasser by using a winking emoji.

But the Cambridge University graduate replied: 'I work for a law firm that specializes in online sexual harassment. Enjoy being reported to Virgin.'

Tweeting about her ordeal, Miss Van Meir - who is now based in the UK and works for legal firm McAllister Olivarius in Maidenhead, Berkshire - said: 'I was on a Virgin Atlantic flight, and I unexpectedly received these sexually harassing messages on my screen.

'I was in 55C. The flight attendants were helpful and dealt with it swiftly. Have any other women had this happen to them?'

One passenger nine rows away on the flight told Miss Van Meir she was a 'tidy babe'

Miss Van Meir replied that she works for a law firm that specializes in online sexual harassment

She added: 'Virgin Atlantic, you should probably take measures to prevent this from happening by flagging specific language and putting in place a reporting function on the chat to report abusive users.'

Virgin's 'seat to seat' chat system allows passengers to communicate on board, often while playing games on the screen in front of them.

It can also be used to order drinks, a snack or an in-flight meal and staff then know where to deliver it.

But there are calls for the system to be changed to avoid it being hijacked by people sending unsolicited messages, and Virgin says it will now be reviewing the system.

A spokesman told MailOnline: 'We were extremely concerned to hear of the incident reported on-board one of our flights and are investigating as a matter of urgency.

'We want all of our customers to have the best possible experience when they fly with us, and have zero tolerance for any disruptive or inappropriate behaviour.

'We're grateful to our cabin crew who supported our customer following this incident and would like to apologise for the distress caused. We are now reviewing our entertainment systems to ensure this does not happen again'.

It comes nearly a year after Ysolda Teague, 33, was getting on a British Airways flight when she saw someone on it had tried to AirDrop five pictures of his genitals.

Ms Teague, who spoke to HuffPost about her experience, was flying from London to Edinburgh with her partner Kate O'Sullivan, 37, and their six-year-old daughter.