Image copyright PA Image caption Police boarded the plane and it was held for several hours at Stansted

A man arrested after a passenger flight was escorted to Stansted Airport by RAF fighter jets has been charged with fraud, Scotland Yard has said.

Khalid Baqa, 52, from Barking was charged on Wednesday with committing fraud by false representation.

The Pakistan International Airlines plane, on its way from Lahore to Heathrow, was diverted on Tuesday due to an unrelated disruptive passenger.

The plane was held in an area away from the main airport, which remained open.

Essex Police said the diversion had been due to reports of a disruptive passenger and was "not believed to be a hijack situation or terror matter".

In an unrelated matter Mr Baqa was due to be arrested by police on arrival at Heathrow, but because of the disruption was held at Stansted instead.

Image copyright Flightradar24.com Image caption Flightradar24.com tracked the flight's diverted path over southern England

The RAF confirmed that Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft had been scrambled from RAF Coningsby, in Lincolnshire as the plane was diverted.

Stansted is a designated airport for dealing with hijacks and major security alerts.

Such incidents are dealt with in a remote part of the airfield to the north-west of the terminal building.