A woman who downed rum and wine before she attacked three flight attendants with judo sweeps has been spared jail.

Hilary Mackay, 54, managed to trip up two stewardess as they walked down the aisle in darkness on the night flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow.

Both said they had never experienced such behaviour from a passenger before and now felt ‘nervous’ or ‘trepidation when going into work and dealing with passengers’.

Hilary Diana Mackay, 54, was sentenced to four months in jail suspended for a year (Picture: SWNS)

Mackay became ‘aggressive and agitated’ during the 10-hour flight after being asked to leave an extra leg room seat she hadn’t paid for, last December.


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Mackay, who lives in Kensington, London, repeatedly called manager Alex Scot a ‘bitch’ and fumed ‘do you expect me to look at these empty seats?’



She then targeted the three and deliberately stuck her leg out when she saw them coming down the aisle.

Today at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, Mackay, was sentence to four months in jail suspended for a year after being convicted of assault at an earlier hearing.

She was also ordered to pay £150 in compensation to the two crew she tripped up and £100 to the third.

Cabin service supervisor Lucey Downey in a victim impact statement read to the court said: ‘I have been working as a flight attendant for 15 years and have never experienced anyone behave like this towards me.

She has previously said she was ‘practising her judo sweeps’ (Picture: SWNS)

‘To make it worse it was in the dark when it happened and now I am nervous every time I go down the aisle – she tripped me up in the darkness and smirked while she did.

‘I am still shaken by her behaviour on board.’

Cabin crew member Leanne Palmer added: ‘I was left with bruises after this assault on my shin and the pain kept me up all night – I also had to explain to my children why I was home late.

‘I still feel trepidation when going into work and dealing with passengers – in all my years at work I have never experienced something like this.’

Mackay was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and being drunk on an aircraft, both of which were later dropped.

But during her police interview the same day she was further arrested for the assaults on cabin crew.

Sentencing, chair of the bench Derek Price said: ‘Due to the seriousness of the offences a custodial sentence can be passed.

‘These offences occurred on an aircraft and you put the safety of the crew and passengers at risk.

She was ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge at Uxbridge Magistrates Court in London (Picture: PA)

‘We are giving you a custodial sentence of four months, however that will be suspended for 12 months.

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‘You will pay two of the members of cabin crew you assaulted £150 each and the third member £100.

‘You will pay court costs of £625 and a victim surcharge of £115.’

The same court in January heard Mackay had downed a quarter of a litre bottle of rum and two small bottles of wine.

But describing her actions Mackay said: ‘I was practising judo sweeps, so it wasn’t to target those three people.’

This was contested by the prosecution who added: ‘She did a judo sweep on an aeroplane which constitutes an assault because people were tripped up.’



Before being convicted last month, Mackay said the crew should ‘know better’ than to aggravate a smoker on a flight and accused the victims of ‘talking nonsense’ and ‘not being honest’ in their statements.

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