By Alexander Lawrie

Copyright dailyrecord

A drunk Scots thug caused a holiday flight to Turkey to be diverted to Germany after she acted aggressively and spat on a passenger. Courtney Maich, 27, was being hauled of the plane by German police officers when she launched the “disgraceful and disgusting” assault on the mother of a child on board the Jet2 flight. Maich and her partner Alannah O’Neill, 28, had taken off from Edinburgh Airport and were en route to Dalaman on their first ever trip on a plane when the pair began drinking their own alcohol. The louts, both from Dundee, refused to stop shouting and swearing when repeatedly asked to by cabin crew and Maich was even handed a written warning by the captain about her behaviour. Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the couple’s behaviour forced the captain to divert to Cologne around 90 minutes after take off where Maich was escorted from the flight. The court heard passengers were grounded for three hours before the plane was allowed to continue to its destination and a return flight to Edinburgh had to be cancelled to the following day. Jet2 was then forced to pay out £27,370.53 to put passengers and staff up in a hotel overnight and the return flight eventually landed back in Edinburgh 16 hours late. The court was told the airline has now served a civil action on both women in an attempt to recoup their losses. Fiscal depute Eilidh Gunn said Maich was asked to move as she was in the wrong seat but refused and became aggressive towards cabin crew shortly after take off at around 4pm on October 8 last year. She was travelling with a larger group and drunken arguments were said to have broken out between the parties including O’Neill and the decision was taken to divert to Cologne. Gunn said: “German police then boarded the flight and in the process of removing Maich off the plane she spat at one of the passengers who was with her husband and seven-year-old son. “The spit landed on her body, and she also shouted ‘f*** you all’ towards the passengers.” Mobile phone footage of Maich being arrested and escorted off the flight was widely posted on social media following the incident. The pair appeared in the dock for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday after previously pleading guilty to various offences last month. Co-accused Natasha Gilligan, 49, from Dundee, had not guilty pleas accepted by the Crown and fourth accused Michaela Hawes, 35, from Dundee, has a non-appearance warrant out for her arrest. Sheriff Peter Anderson said the couple’s behaviour had “catastrophic consequences” for the other passengers and they had “ruined the start of a holiday for a large number of people” The sheriff added: “All of this because you couldn’t control your drink. This was utterly disgraceful conduct and cannot be allowed to happen again.” Maich and O’Neill were sentenced to a 12 month supervision order, carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and both will be tagged and have to stay at home between 8pm and 7am, Maich for four months and O’Neill for three. Maich was also ordered to pay £200 in compensation for what the sheriff described as a “disgraceful and disgusting” assault on Ms Taylor. Maich pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing, acting aggressively and uttering threats of violence and offensive remarks to other passengers on the aircraft between Edinburgh and Cologne. She also admitted to assaulting a woman by spitting on her body. Maich and O’Neill both admitted to a charge of failing to obey the pilot’s commands, ignore instructions not to drink alcohol, shout and swear and behave in a disruptive and anti-social manner. The court appearance comes just weeks after new figures show crime and disorder at Scotland’s airports has rocketed by 41 per cent over the last three years. Last year police officers attended 5598 incidents last year across the country’s 16 airports compared to just 3989 in 2022. Edinburgh Airport saw an increase from 2525 reported incidents in 2022 to 3167 last year while at Glasgow Airport incidents investigated by the police rose from 1154 to 1526 in the same period.