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A first-time flyer stroked a male airline steward’s groin for a ‘lark’ after he got drunk to calm his nerves, a court heard.

Joe Hirst, 22, from Brighouse , was flying to the Canary Islands with his girlfriend to celebrate his birthday - but at 30,000 feet he inexplicably reached out and fondled the man’s inside leg in a ‘’cupping motion’’ as the victim was serving drinks to other passengers, it was alleged.

The shocked steward who cannot be named rebuked Hirst for his behaviour but was met with a drunken grin and snigger by the unruly holidaymaker who also said: ‘’Ooooohhh’’ to him in a gay-like flirtatious voice, a jury heard.

Hirst was later escorted off the Jet2 aircraft by Spanish Police when it touched down at Fuerteventura but was not arrested on suspicion of sexual assault until he arrived back in the UK after his holiday. It emerged the alleged assault had been carried out after he had been drinking beer and vodka bought earlier from duty free.

The incident occurred on January 15 last year after Hirst, a driveway builder and his girlfriend of six months Shannon Potter boarded the 10am flight from Manchester for the trip which had been booked for him as a birthday present.

Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester heard trouble began two and a half hours into the flight when Hirst kept putting his leg in the aisle causing an obstruction to cabin crew as they served drinks and snacks.

The steward - who cannot be named - told the hearing: “Throughout the flight there seemed to be an issue with his left leg in the aisle. That happened on numerous occasions where colleagues had asked for his leg to be moved.

“Initially he wasn’t a problem but as the flight progressed he seemed to become less aware of things and his reactions were much slower. At about 12.30, during the second bar service he began to reach with his arm as if getting something from the trolley and when I asked what he was doing he looked up and with the same hand he reached around and touched my thigh with an up ward stroking motion.

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“I was facing towards the rear of the plane and he was on my left. He seemed to take it as a bit of a joke - there was a little laugh and snigger. He said the word: “Ooohhh” in a flirtatious voice and then went to touch my genital area.

“Initially I was totally shocked and I couldn’t even think what had just happened. I said to him: “Do you think that is appropriate,” and he responded with a snigger. I tried to carry on but my colleague told me to get off the bar and I went to the front of the aircraft where I told a senior member of crew what had happened.”

Another cabin crew member said: “His legs were constantly in the aisle and every time we were on a cart service we had to ask him to move them. We were going out on our final drinks service and we were heading towards Row 27 where the defendant was sat.

“My colleague asked him to move his leg which he did after a long period of time. But his left hand then reached over as if he was going to steal something from the cart draw. He then reached up into his inner thigh and groin area with an open cupping motion.

“As his hand went up, my colleague jumped back and said: “Do you think that is appropriate.” His expression changed and he looked angry so I told him to back to the front and get him away from the situation.”

Passenger Audrey Pritchard who was sat next to Hirst during the flight said: “He didn’t buy any drinks but seemed a bit drunk. He seemed to have a bottle of cola in his hand and it just never seemed empty even though he was drinking it.

‘’He kept going to the toilet, I think about five times. He kept putting his leg out on the aisle and as people went past they had to step over it. Once or twice members of the cabin crew asked him to move it.

‘’When the crew came round with the drinks trolley, he leaned forward and went to touch the member of crew in the groin. He laughed when he did this. The crew member pushed his hand away and said something like: ‘Don’t do that, that is very inappropriate.’ I think he was in shock.’’

In his defence Hirst said: “The holiday was booked for my birthday - this was mine and my girlfriend’s first holiday together and my first ever time on a plane. I was nervous and on the morning of the flight I felt really nervous.

“When we arrived at the airport we went and got some breakfast and had a couple of bottles beers and vodka’s - I think I had about four or five drinks. I drunk because I was nervous, it was never my intention to carry on drinking on the flight.

“I wouldn’t say I was drunk, I was a bit merry - about a two or three on a scale of one to 10. I had my last drink about an hour before boarding the plane. We bought a litre bottle of vodka from duty free which my girlfriend kept in her hand luggage bag.’’

He added: “I just didn’t have enough room in my seat, I am 6ft and I cannot sit still half the time in general. I didn’t realise I was being an obstruction - I didn’t mean anything by it. On the drinks round, the male crew member tripped over my leg and said I shouldn’t have done that, he seemed quite annoyed but that was the end of the incident.

‘’I had only reached my arm out to get a drink because I was messing around. I didn’t intend to touch him and I didn’t touch him. My hand was a good foot away from him. When the Spanish police spoke to me after the flight I thought they wanted to speak to me about my foot. I had never been on a flight before.’’

Miss Potter 22, a care assistant said: ‘’This was our first holiday together and he told me that he hadn’t been on a flight before and he was very nervous about it. We arrived at the airport at about 7am and had about four or five vodka and colas.

“Joe seemed fine, he knew what he was doing and saying. He seemed fine to me. He kept saying he was nervous and I reassured him but other than that he was okay. He had stuck his leg out three or four times because there was no leg room.

“At one point, the male cabin crew member got to Joe’s leg and stumbled back a few steps. He said to Joe: ‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ and Joe said: ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.’ Joe had been pointing towards a drink on the trolley, I didn’t see him make any contact.

“When we left the plane we were wondering why the police had wanted to speak to us but we both just carried on with our holiday. I had thought the allegation was about him sticking his leg out and the cabin crew member tripping over it.”

The court heard the steward complained to police when he returned to the UK. Prosecuting Mr Alaric Bassano said: ‘’There is no suggestion that the defendant is gay but the sound he made seems to have been said in a way as if the defendant believed that the complainant was gay or implying that male members of cabin crew are likely to be gay.

‘’The defendant had been drinking and making a nuisance of himself and for reasons best known to himself almost certainly contributed to by alcohol he deliberately touched the genitals over clothing of a male member of cabin crew.’’

Hirst denies sexual assault on a man.

On the second day of the trial Mr Hirst was cleared