Former soldier, 40, who sexually assaulted four cabin crew and forced a flight to be diverted is jailed

A former soldier who sexually assaulted four flight attendants on a flight and forced the cabin to divert was jailed.

Joseph McCabe, 40, ‘grinned’ as he groped and caught four Jet2 stewards on a holiday flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife and now finds himself on the sex offenders’ register.

A builder ripped up a written warning about drunken behavior after making sexual comments to a woman about her tights and make-up and asking her age and where she lived.

McCabe groped the buttocks of two airmen, then grabbed a third by the waist and tried to hug a fourth.

He also threw his bank card at an airline employee and danced in the aisle during this ugly incident in March last year.

His obnoxious behavior forced the plane to divert to the island of Porto Santo and delayed his fellow passenger by two hours.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Portuguese police boarded the plane and arrested troublemaker McCabe after the unplanned landing.

Attacked crew members on Jet2 flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife

McCabe served as a private in the Royal Logistic Corps for five years before setting up the B-Heard clothing business in memory of a friend who committed suicide during the Covid 19 lockdown.

He now runs his own construction company and co-owns a party boat business called The Drunken Anchor.

McCabe, of Tollcross, Glasgow, admitted four sexual offenses at his trial at the capital’s court last month and returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday.

Sheriff Alison Stirling was told Jet2 banned McCabe from flying for life and refused to pay the £5000 the airline had imposed.

Sheriff Stirling said the crime involved a ‘high level of culpability and a high level of harm’ as he sentenced McCabe to 46 weeks behind bars.

The sheriff also registered the shopkeeper on the sex offenders register for 10 years and issued an indefinite harassment restraining order banning him from having any contact with the victims.

Anna Kocela, defending McCabe, said her client drank excessively during the flight due to the loss of his family.

Prosecutor Miriam Farooq had previously told the court that the Jet2 flight took off from Edinburgh Airport for Tenerife at around 8.30am on March 15 last year with around 110 passengers on board.

Ms Farooq said the plane was full of families and children and cabin crew noticed McCabe ‘making multiple trips to the toilet’ shortly after takeoff.

About 90 minutes into the flight, a female flight attendant ‘felt someone touching her buttocks behind her’ while serving another passenger, the prosecutor said.

When she turned around, she saw McCabe “looking at her with a grin on his face” and asking her “where she got her tights because he liked them.”

The perverted builder asked the woman how old she was and where she lived, and then slapped a male steward on the buttocks during the flight.

McCabe, a father of two, was also seen trying to hug a second female victim and placed his hands on a third female employee for approximately 30 seconds.

McCabe was given a verbal and then a written warning, which he tore up.

Ms Farooq said: ‘The decision was made to divert the aircraft and air traffic control instructed the captain to land at the airport in Porto Santo.

‘After landing, the defendant got up from his seat and started dancing in the corridor. Portuguese police boarded the plane and arrested and detained him.’

The court heard the holiday flight continued its journey and eventually landed in Tenerife two hours late.