Two Geordies have been fined after they sparked a major alert at an airport when they climbed onto a baggage chute into a restricted area.

Stephen Lennox and Jordan Bainbridge crawled along a black conveyor belt at Newcastle International Airport.

They were spotted peering over the check-in desk by staff before they climbed onto the belt.  They managed to get to the departure area before being arrested.

Prosecutor Justin Gibson said they weren’t due top go on holiday and told police that they were ‘just having a laugh’.

He added: ‘The airport was functioning at the time of the incident when they went into the restricted zone.

‘Their own personal safety was part of the concern as well as the airport infrastructure.’

Mr Gibson said the pair entered the airport with a youth but he didn’t follow them down the baggage chute and was not charged.

The court heard Lennox and Bainbridge had drunk a couple of cans of lager before getting the Metro to the airport.

Charles Weidner, mitigating for Lennox, said: ‘He acknowledges he had done wrong. He acknowledges it was something stupid and apologised for his behaviour.’

John Williams, mitigating for Bainbridge, told the court his client suffers from bipolar disorder and was sorry for his actions.

Lennox, 24, from Felling, and Bainbridge, 20, from Gateshead, both pleaded guilty to being an unauthorised presence in a restricted zone at an airport.

Magistrates fined them £120 each and they were ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge.

The pair were also given a 12-month restraining order to prevent them from visiting the airport.

Reverend George Curry, chairman of the bench, told them: ‘Security was at a level of severe and now it is at critical after recent events.

‘You could have found yourselves in more trouble had it been critical.

‘If you’re going on holiday you have to go from somewhere else. That is the consequence of your foolish behaviour.’

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Richard Hartley-Parkinson

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