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A man has been jailed for two years after his drunken motorway stunt disrupted the travel plans of thousands of airline passengers and commuters.

At 9.15am on Saturday, September 5, Michael Cleator clambered over a safety barrier on a bridge crossing the M56 near Manchester Airport.

He was clutching a bottle of vodka, mixers, sunglasses, and a TV soap magazine.

When police arrived shortly afterwards they told him he was in danger, and tried to talk him down.

But he told them he didn’t care about the disruption to the people’s lives, and ‘just wanted peace and quiet to get p****ed’, Manchester Crown Court heard.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

Cleator, 37, perched there perilously for seven-and-a-half hours - resisting all attempts to bring him down as chaos unfurled beneath him.

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Concerns for Cleator’s safety, and the safety of the public, meant the motorway had to be closed, reports Manchester Evening News.

The resulting gridlock disrupted dozens of flights, delayed 5000 airline passengers, drained the resources of emergency services, and even caused road accidents between distracted and frustrated drivers.

Now Cleator, who has 23 previous offences on his criminal record, has been jailed after admitting causing a public nuisance.

His barrister, Huw Edwards, said he had climbed onto the bridge intending to take his own life, after losing contact with his son.

Cleator has now re-established that contact, the court heard, and was making real steps to overcome the addiction and mental health difficulties that led to his bizarre behaviour.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

A jail sentence, Mr Edwards said, would have a ‘depressive effect’ on Cleator, of Crispin Road, Wythenshawe.

Offences causing inconvenience on this scale are relatively rare, with no sentencing guidelines, and the nearest example in the law books involving an Acid House rave in 1992.

In that case the promoter got a suspended sentence. But in Cleator’s Manchester Crown Court sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming said the case was so serious Cleator had to go to jail.

“The consequences of your offending behaviour had a very real impact on thousands of innocent people”, the judge told him.

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“Aggravating factors include the timing and location of the offence - a motorway footbridge on a busy Saturday morning, the duration of the incident, and the fact the motorway was completely closed.

“There’s the impact on emergency services, the risk you posed to yourself and the public at large. The impact of your behaviour on the operational performance of Manchester Airport and the anxiety your undoubtedly caused to families seeking to meet their flights and greet loved ones.

“And, you were under the influence of alcohol and ignored all the warnings that you were at risk and to get down.

"Whilst I recognise that there is a strong public interest in allowing your engagement with alcohol and mental health services to continue, that is outweighed by the need to punish you for the seriousness of your behaviour.”

Photos of the havoc caused on the roads by Cleator’s antics were presented by prosecutor Martin Callery to the judge in the sentencing hearing.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

The court heard that a metal cage and spikes surround the footbridge - which spans the motorway between junctions four and five - to prevent people jumping off.

Cleator, who had already drunk a litre of a vodka when he got there, somehow managed to get past these safety features without hurting himself.

At 9.17am police received their first call that an intoxicated male was on top of the bridge.

Police who tried to talk him down noted that he ‘enjoyed the attention and appeared to display a total disregard for the chaos developing below’.

At one stage he told officers he ‘would come down when he was good and ready, and when he’d finished his vodka.

"He even took to walking along the ledge, taking pictures on his mobile phone, and at one stage hung off the bridge by one hand.

He later said he hoped to accidentally slip and fall.

When irate motorists began to shout abuse, Cleator shouted back.

When a ladder was put up for him to come down, a hole having been cut in the metal cage, he urinated down it.

It all finally came to an end at 4.45pm, when Cleator jumped into a bush. He was taken to hospital where staff noted he was ‘relaxed and chatty’.

Police negotiators, the fire service and the Higways Agency had all been involved, and 30 flights and 5000 passengers had been affected.

With staff as well as travellers held up, the average flight delay was 47 minutes, and suspected to be more because not every airline provided information to prosecutors.