British air rage lawyer found dead days after prison release
A British lawyer who was jailed for spitting at and verbally abusing Air India cabin crew on a flight to London has been found dead just days after her release from prison.
Police have confirmed that the body of Simone Burns, aged 50, was discovered at the foot of the Beachy Head, a notorious suicide spot in East Sussex.
Her body was found just a couple of weeks after she was released from prison following the air rage incident last year. She was sentenced in April 2019 after pleading guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and assault by beating.
Burns had downed three bottles of red wine with breakfast on the nine-hour business-class flight from Mumbai but she lost her temper when the cabin crew refused to serve her any more.
In a tirade of abuse captured on other passengers’ mobile phones, Burns told the crew that she was ‘a f****** international lawyer’ and called them ‘Indian money-grabbing c****’, before spitting in the face of a cabin supervisor.
She also smoked a cigarette in the toilets, which is against airline rules.
Sussex Police confirmed the body found at Beachy Head cliffs on June 1 was that of Simone Burns. It is not treating her death as suspicious.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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