Brit, 43, convicted of groping Ryanair flight attendant in mid-air after pretending to have problem with his credit card

A BRITISH holidaymaker has been convicted of sexually assaulting a Ryanair flight attendant after pretending he had credit card issues.

During a flight from Newcastle to Majorca, Mark Turnbull touched an air steward’s bottom and nipples “in a lewd way”.

The 43-year-old stood up from his seat to touch up the male flight attendant with passengers having to help restrain him, the court heard.

Spanish cops were waiting to pounce when the plane landed in Majorca but had to call in reinforcements when he allegedly became aggressive towards the first officers to arrive.

Turnbull was then arrested, escorted out of the airport in handcuffs and thrown into a jail cell for the night, although he was never charged with resisting arrest.

The Newcastle-Palma flight was September 2023.

Turnbull was today slapped with a one-year suspended prison by a court in Palma, which formally convicted the Brit of sexual assault.

The sentence was automatically suspended as part of a plea bargain deal Mr Turnbull’s lawyer agreed on with public prosecutors.

He admitted wrongdoing via video conference after being given permission to testify from the UK.

Public prosecutors had called for the Brit holidaymaker to be jailed for a year and seven months in a pre-trial indictment.

The indictment stated the tourist approached the air steward on board the Ryanair flight as he tried to sort out a problem with his credit card.

But Turnbull had “the intention of undermining his sexual integrity and satisfying his sexual desires”.

It’s said that “after touching his victim in the chest area”, he “pinched his right nipple and moments later, taking advantage of the fact the airline worker had his back to him and was with the snacks and beverage trolley, forcefully grabbed his bottom cheeks with both hands.”

As well as the suspended prison sentence, Turnbull has been told he will be hauled to prison and made to do his one-year suspended jail term if he re-offends in Spain in the next two years.

He’ll be forced to undergo sexual education training and was hit with a 100-metre restraining order for two years preventing him from going near the airline worker he sexually assaulted.

The sentencing judges have also banned him from working with minors for two years.

The arrested man was pictured last year being taken to court in handcuffs, wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt after a night in a police cell.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Majorca said at the time: “I can confirm the arrest of a British man at Palma Airport on suspicion of sexual assault.

“He allegedly sexually assaulted a flight attendant on a plane from Newcastle to Palma.”

Local reports said he initially told the investigating judge who bailed him that he had merely wanted to play a joke on the air steward.

But Turnbull subsequently offered conflicting versions explaining his behaviour.

He was allowed to leave Spain while the criminal probe against him continued.

Ryanair was contacted for comment.

TURBULENT UK-SPAIN FLIGHTS

It’s not the only UK-Spain flight to have been embroiled in controversy.

In August last year, a British holidaymaker was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting an air stewardess before spitting on her boss on a Jet2 flight from Manchester to Ibiza.

The 42-year-old was held by police after reaching the island.
Jet2 confirmed after the arrest it had banned him from flying with them.

The same day as the Palma arrest last September, it emerged four men on an easyJet plane from Manchester to Tenerife had been hauled off an aircraft  after it had to be diverted to Lanzarote.

Spanish air traffic controllers said the reroute occurred because of violent passengers on board.