Drunk passenger sneaks onto empty plane on Birmingham Airport runway UNNOTICED

show ad

World's first driveable deckchair unveiled ... complete with ice drink machine, stereo and GPS parasol that moves with the sun
Underwater dining in the Maldives, fried tarantula in Cambodia and ELEPHANT DUNG coffee in Thailand: The top 101 foodie experiences around the world revealed
An end to budget flights? Private jets slash prices so tourists can enjoy VIP travel for less than the cost of an easyJet ticket
'I just wanted to prove how bad airport security is': Drunk passenger sneaks onto empty plane on runway UNNOTICED before being found in the toilet by cleaners
'There was a massive bang and a lot of flashing': EasyJet plane carrying 156 passengers is struck by LIGHTNING as plane diverts due to 'monster storm'
A four-hour flight, 25C and £604: The formula for the perfect holiday revealed (and we will read Game of Thrones by the pool with Adele playing in the background)
Water tight squeeze! Chinese swimmers pack out pools as temperatures soar (but there's not even enough space for a paddle)
Home to the 'Cocaine King': Haunting photos of abandoned Caribbean villa reveal lavish lifestyle of drug lord Pablo Escobar
Drunken passenger attempts to open plane door on board Ryanair flight to Dublin because he thought it was a toilet
School's out for the summer! Great British getaway begins as two million head to the airport, 67,000 travel via the Channel Tunnel - and last-minute holidays in the UK soar
Over-spending and drinking too much top list of biggest holiday bust-ups (along with ogling bikini-clad girls on the beach)
A nation of homebodies: Nearly half of Britons miss their own bed when they're on holiday, and fifty-four per cent can't leave without their teabags
Seaside nostalgia: Vintage photos reveal a journey through time as Britain's iconic coastal piers celebrate 200 years
Top ten things to do in Glasgow (if you're not watching the Commonwealth Games...)
Between 10am and 1pm on the M25 ... 22 MINUTES after setting off: Exact moment family rows kick off on holiday road trips
Women spend a month getting bikini-ready for the beach... but it is all undone in six DAYS (and 48 hours are spent feeling ill due to overindulgence)
Brits vote Las Vegas the 'overspend' capital of the world ... as 57% of holidaymakers admit to blowing their budget when abroad
The Downton-Sherlock-Paddington effect: Modern TV classics (and a rather cute bear) spark surge in Japanese visits to Britain
We're all going on a summer holiday! TWO MILLION Britons to head abroad this weekend (and Spain, Greece and Turkey are the holiday hotspots)
'It's not good enough': British pilots claim flight path decisions are made in secret and influenced by commercial pressure
‘Common sense goes out the window’: Brits blow holiday budget just five DAYS into two-week break … with 25% paying off debts for three months after they return
'It is approved airspace': Malaysia Airlines defends rerouting flight over Syria war zone just days after tragic MH17 crash
'It's designed to make you feel like a mollusc': Inside the bizarre but beautiful Mexican house built to resemble a SHELL
Rule Britannia! The length of 10 blue whales and set to host a £1MILLION art collection - the latest pictures of P&'s iconic ship under construction

Lee Jezard, 22, missed his flight to Ibiza so got drunk in an airport bar
He crawled through a tunnel behind luggage conveyor belt in the airport
He then climbed up a flight of stairs against an empty plane on the airfield
When cleaners found him in the aircraft toilet, he claimed he was the co-pilot

Published: 07:49 EST, 25 July 2014 | Updated: 09:44 EST, 25 July 2014

View
comments

A drunken passenger managed to sneak on to an empty plane unnoticed before being found in the toilet by cleaners, and claiming to be the co-pilot.

The shocking breach of security happened at Birmingham Airport after the man entered the airfield at around 1am last Thursday.

Lee Jezard, 22, from Evesham, Worcester, arrived at Birmingham Airport too late to catch his 7.30pm flight to Ibiza for a lads holiday with five of his friends.

Rule-breaker: Twenty-two year old Lee Jezard said he wanted to expose a lapse in airport security

He was re-booked on the first flight out the next morning but didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel so got drunk in an airport bar.

He then decided to go downstairs and crawled along the conveyor behind the check-in desks until he ended up on the airfield.

Yesterday, Lee, who is a duty manager at The Wood Norton Hotel, said: 'I turned up late so I missed my flight to Ibiza but my bags were already on it because my mates had checked them in.

'They gave me a flight the next morning and I went to the bar and got absolutely slaughtered to be honest. I had one too many.

'I went downstairs and it was quite empty with just a few cleaners around and I thought "this doesn't look very secure".

'I wondered if I could expose a lapse in their security and got on the conveyor belt behind the check-in desks.

'I made it through and it looks like a factory back there, it is absolutely massive.

'I got on to the airfield and there was a plane there with steps going up to it and I went up and there was a cleaner in there.

Lee Jezard, centre, pictured with friends, said he tried to convince a cleaner on board the aircraft that he was the co-pilot

'I was trying to convince him I was the co-pilot. He believed it for a minute but then he called police and they arrested me.

'My response after being arrested was I just did it to prove how bad airport security is.

'It's a good job I am not a terrorist. It's funny to my mates but I suppose it isn't funny for the airport.

'I couldn't believe how easily I got through, no-one stopped me or confronted me once between the check-in desk and the airfield.

'They said they would have to shut down the airport and search everywhere.

'The police who arrested me didn't even know what to arrest me on, they had to go and print something off.'

A source at the airport said it was one of the most dramatic security breaches they had ever witnessed

Lee was unable to join his pals in Ibiza and is now on a no-fly list until he appears at Birmingham Magistrates Court next month.

Speaking about what he found behind the scenes at the airport, he added: 'After you go through the shutters you go up and it is massive.

'There is loads of conveyor belts going off in all different directions but I just went straight.

'It goes up and down and then there was a ladder I got off on and the shutters were all open and I found myself on the airfield.

'I couldn't quite believe what I was doing.'

Lee managed to avoid security by climbing though the conveyor belt used for luggage behind the closed check-in desks

Yesterday West Midlands Police confirmed a 22-year-old was arrested at the scene.

He has been charged with entering a security restricted area of an aerodrome without the permission of the manager and boarding an aircraft without permission.

More...

A source at the airport, who exposed the security breach blasted bosses and said: 'It is such an incredible breach of security, one of the biggest I have ever heard of at a British airport.

'He could have been a terrorist, he could have been anybody at all. It is scary that this was allowed to happen.

'He could have done anything to that plane or another plane, they must have had to do a lot of checks afterwards.

'The check-in desks would have been closed by that time but the baggage flaps should be locked and secured.

'It is unthinkable that someone managed to climb through there without being spotted on the CCTV cameras.

'You have seen things abroad where a person has made it on to the airfield but I have never heard of it happening in Britain. It is terrifying really.'

An Embraer 190 regional airliner operated by Lufthansa taking off from Birmingham International Airport

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said Mr Jezard was arrested at around 1.10am last Thursday at the airport.

She said: 'He was charged later that day with the offence of entering a security restricted area of an aerodrome without the permission of the manager and a separate offence of boarding an aircraft without permission.

'He was released on bail, with conditions not to attend any airport in the UK, and is due to appear before Birmingham Magistrates on 20 August.'

A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport, added: 'We can confirm that a man was arrested by West Midlands Police at Birmingham Airport during the early hours of Thursday 17th July and was later charged.'

Birmingham Airport had been celebrating on Tuesday morning when the first jet arriving from China touched down following the opening of the airport's £40million runway extension.

The 248-seat Airbus A330-200 arrived from Beijing and was the first jet to land on the new lengthened runway.

It then took off again a few hours later on the inaugural Birmingham to Beijing flight - becoming the only direct air link between China and a UK destination outside London.