Man who cracked aeroplane window with fist at 35,000ft admits he deserves 'no sympathy'

A PASSENGER who caused panic on a plane when he went "nuts" and cracked a window at 35,000ft admitted that he deserved "no sympathy".

                               Nicholas Whittaker admitted that he deserved 'no sympathy'

The father-of-two was involved in a row with his partner on board the Boeing 787 on May 25.

Nicholas Whittaker cracked the inner window of a Thomson Dreamliner as it flew over Ireland while en route from Florida to Manchester.

Passengers became concerned when they heard raised voices and the pilot considered diverting to Manchester over the incident, although eventually decided to carry on to Manchester.

Whittaker was arrested as soon as the aircraft touched down.

The 43-year-old, from Aston-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty to recklessly acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or anyone on it when he appeared at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

The former bus driver apologised for his actions but he claimed to have no memory of the incident.

He said that he was seeking treatment for mental health problems.

Tearfully he said: "I've only got one feeling about all this and that's for all those people that were frightened to death up there. I don't deserve sympathy." 

Asked if he wanted to say anything to the other passengers on board the jet, he said: "Sorry, but it's not a big enough word. Of course, they were frightened. There's some guy going nuts. 

"To this day I can't fix that for them." 

Whittaker said he had "lost some hours of my life", adding: "I don't know if I can get them back." 

He went on: "For me to try to justify it is impossible. There's no justification.

"All I can do is offer the reasons and offer the apologies."

'The captain had to make a decision whether to divert or continue as it was an internal window made the decision to continue and police were called so he could be arrested. '

Judge Adrian Smith adjourned the case for sentence on January 6 and told the court that "all options remain open" – including a jail sentence.

Whittaker's lawyers initially argued that he was not guilty of endangering life as the damage he caused was internal window and 'just cosmetic.' 

A Thomson Airways spokesman said: ‘We do have a zero-tolerance approach on all our aircraft.

‘Passenger safety is our paramount priority.'  - Express.co.uk