A woman who tried to open the door of a passenger plane mid-flight while yelling "I'm going to kill you all" has been jailed for two years.

Passengers and cabin crew had to restrain Chloe Haines on the Jet2 flight to Dalaman in Turkey on June 22 last year.

Two RAF fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane back to Stansted Airport causing a sonic boom across Essex.

Judge Charles Gratwicke, sentencing the 26-year-old at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, said: "Those that are trapped in the confined space of the aircraft will inevitably be distressed, frightened and petrified by the actions of those who in a drunken state endanger their lives.

"For some it will be their worst nightmare come true."

Haines, dressed in a white shirt and black top, with her blonde hair in a ponytail, sobbed through much of the hearing.

She admitted endangering the safety of an aircraft and assaulting cabin crew member Charley Coombe at an earlier hearing.

Ms Coombe suffered scratches as she tried to prevent Haines from opening the plane door.

Jet2 calculated that the incident cost them £86,000.

Prosecutor Michael Crimp said Haines claimed she "blacked out and didn't really remember what happened" after mixing alcohol with medication.

He said she had "lunged" at a door handle on the plane, which had 206 people on board.

One passenger later told police he "really feared she would open the door" and "honestly thought I was going to die", Mr Crimp said.

Haines said "I want to die" and "I'm going to kill you all" as cabin crew and passengers restrained her.

"She was kicking and punching," Mr Crimp said.

A passenger had seen her drinking from a bottle in the overhead locker, he said, and a 200ml bottle of gin was later found in a duty free bag with around a quarter of its contents gone.

Haines said she had also been drinking at the airport, the prosecutor said.

Mr Crimp said it was impossible to open the exit door mid-flight but many passengers did not know this.

Haines, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, had previously been convicted of a drink-driving offence and three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, which all happened in April last year, 17 days before the incident.

Oliver Saxby QC, mitigating, said Haines has been diagnosed with mental ill health and has not touched alcohol since the day of the incident.

"She wasn't just drunk, she was unwell," he said.

He added: "She's appalled, she's ashamed, she's deeply embarrassed by what she did. She's disgusted with herself."

He said Haines is unemployed with no savings and goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings up to four times a week. Haines wept as she was led to the cells.

Additional reporting by PA Media