An elderly woman has sensationally called for the return of capital punishment to deal with the Gatwick drone menace.

The rogue pilot has grounded more than 800 planes and left hundreds of thousands of people stranded on one of the busiest travel days before Christmas.

So you can probably guess just how annoyed everyone at Gatwick is feeling right now.

Jackie had some pretty strong words for the Gatwick drone pilot (Picture: ITV)

Among the thousands of people whose Christmas holidays have been ruined is Jackie Palmer.


She was supposed to be taking her grandchildren on a surprise trip to see Santa in Lapland, but her plans are now in tatters.

Jackie suggested a rather surprising punishment for the drone pilot who has avoided capture for more than 24 hours from the Army and two police forces.

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‘A whole year we booked this up,’ she told ITV News. ‘A surprise Christmas for all the grandchildren and this has happened.



‘I think it’s disgusting and if they catch the people they need hanging.’

Wow.

Gatwick Airport has confirmed it will be closed for the ‘foreseeable future including tomorrow’ meaning more misery for thousands of travellers.

Jackie was far from the only person left suffering from the chaos.

Lexie Heath, 73, had to be given a wheelchair after the stress of having her flight cancelled triggered her heart problem.

Stranded passengers queue for information at Gatwick Airport (Picture: PA)

The arrivals board at Gatwick is not a pretty picture (Picture: PA)

The former bank worker was scheduled to fly to Glasgow to be with family for Christmas.

She said she was not used to travelling alone as her husband died five months ago.

But she said airport staff had been ‘fantastic’ in looking after her and that she had been stuck on a stationary plane from 7am for about four hours this morning.

‘I have a heart problem and when I get stressed it races too fast and sometimes skips a beat,’ she said.

‘I can get a pain down my arm as well, like pins and needles. This stress has really set me off, very much so. My legs just go.

A police helicopter flies over the closed runway at Gatwick Airport looking for the drone (Picture: Reuters)

Gatwick has been shutdown since 9pm last night (Picture: EPA)

Passengers faced severe disruption as flights were unable to leave the tarmac while others were diverted to alternative airports (Picture: AP)

‘I’m not that used to travelling alone, it used to be with my husband.

‘I’m going back up to spend Christmas with my family. My brother died three weeks ago and now I’ll have the extra stress of trying to organise parts of his funeral. I could have really done without this.’

A replacement flight from Gatwick on Friday morning has been organised for her, she added.

Gatwick Airport CEO Stewart Wingate said this ‘criminal activity’ is ‘highly targeted’ and designed to cause as much travel disruption as possible during the Christmas rush.

‘We are working very closely with the police and the security services to try to resolve this for passengers,’ he said.

‘We hope passengers appreciate that we must and will always prioritise their safety over everything else. We are all working flat out to minimise inconvenience and have additional staff in both terminals assisting passengers who are waiting.’

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