Drunken Briton is jailed over threat to hijack plane
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Your support makes all the difference.A drunken British tourist who threatened to hijack a packed aircraft was jailed yesterday in Australia.
Thomas Lilico, 21, burst into tears as he became the first person to fall foul of tough new anti-terrorism laws passed since 11 September 2001.
The student, of Darlington, Co Durham, was sentenced to three months at Cairns magistrates' court.
Lilico, travelling with five friends, was arrested at Cairns airport on Wednesday after apparently spraying the cabin of a flight to Darwin with an aerosol before take-off.
He was also allegedly overheard by an attendant threatening to use a knife to take control of the aircraft.
The Briton was removed from the aircraft and arrested. He told police he had consumed eight pints of beer before boarding and was still hung-over from New Year's Eve.
Ken Lynn, the magistrate, said at the hearing in Cairns that he wanted to make an example of Lilico, who claimed he could remember nothing of the incident. He will spend a month behind bars, with the remaining two months of his sentence being suspended.
Mr Lynn accepted there was never any intention to fulfil the threat. But he said boarding an aeroplane drunk and making "smart comments" had to be regarded as serious and were not without consequence.
No knife was found in Lilico's hand luggage and the aerosol turned out to be an asthma inhaler.
Lilico admitted making a threatening and false statement in breach of the Federal Crime Aviation Act, becoming the first person to be jailed in Australia since it adopted a "zero tolerance" policy towards threatening remarks, in response to the 11 September attacks and the Bali bombings.
Sylvia Macdonald, a neighbour of Lilico, said: "Whatever happened must have been either folly or a prank. He is just not the type to do anything like this. It's just not him."
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