A YORK man has been told he could be jailed after his drunken behaviour forced a holiday flight to be diverted.

Josh Strickland, 21, of Lucas Avenue in Clifton, was initially charged with recklessly or negligently acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or person in an aircraft.

But that charge was dropped at Manchester Magistrates Court on Thursday, after he admitted the lesser charge of being drunk on an aircraft.

He was on a flight from Leeds Bradford Airport to Cyprus on July 13, but became disruptive soon after take-off, and the plane diverted to Manchester.

Strickland was arrested on the runway by armed police.

The airline, Jet2, has banned Strickland from their planes for life and has billed him £12,000 for the incident, it can now legally be reported for the first time.

At the magistrates court on Thursday, District Judge Sam Goozee committed the case Manchester Crown Court, where Strickland will be sentenced on August 25.

Mr Goozee told the defendant: “Your threatening behaviour towards passengers and crew placed many people in fear or distress. As a consequence a custodial sentence is a possibility.”

Jet2 had claimed after the incident that Strickland had been drinking and had become disruptive, and a spokesman said: "The captain made the immediate decision to divert to Manchester for the safety and wellbeing of the other customers and crew onboard."

Phil Ward, managing director of Jet2.com, added: “We will not tolerate anyone being threatening towards families and crew on our flights.

"We are committed to stamping out abusive and aggressive behaviour for the safety of everyone onboard."

He said Strickland’s behaviour was "absolutely unacceptable" and caused distress and delays for other passengers. He added: "He now has to face up to the consequences of his actions and we will vigorously pursue to recover the costs incurred by this unnecessary divert.”