'Air-rage' man: charges are stupid

A Briton who faces 20 years in jail after allegedly attacking air crew and trying to open an aircraft's emergency exits in mid-flight today described the charges as "stupid and silly".

Speaking by phone from his prison cell in Orlando, 57-year-old Victor Mardell, from Wood Green in north London, said: "I'm not a violent person at all, never have been."

He told reporters he had been pushed to the ground by two people after the plane had landed and as he was getting off.

Mr Mardell, who said he was on his way to his son's wedding, has denied being drunk, aggressive or violent.

"I was not being disorderly at all, not at all," he said. "That's stupid, that is, absolutely silly."

Mr Mardell is being held at Seminole County Jail after being arrested as he disembarked from an Air 2000 flight on Saturday.

He attended the city's US District Court yesterday, where he was ordered to return today for a hearing to determine if he should stay in jail until his trial.

Mr Mardell has been charged with interfering with a flight crew, which carries a maximum 20-year sentence.

Officials said Mr Mardell was "extremely drunk" and attacked two air stewardesses as the flight from Manchester descended towards Orlando-Sanford International Airport.

An arrest statement published yesterday said the economy-class passenger-tried to open a plane door during the flight after the cabin crew twice had to confiscate bottles of Jameson's whiskey from him.

According to reports, Mr Mardell later began swearing and became abusive to a boy sitting next to him. When the boy's father said something, Mr Mardell is said to have threatened to kill him. He then left his seat, approached an air steward and grabbed her shoulders. A group of other passengers restrained him.

After the planed landed, he is accused of lunging at the same flight attendant before again being restrained by other cabin crew and several passengers. He is then alleged to have grabbed a second flight attendant by the wrist and shoved her against the plane's lavatory door.

Assistant attorney Tom Turner said that Mr Mardell should be jailed because of the "violent nature of the incident".

But Mr Mardell's lawyer, Peter Warren Kenny, argued that his client would stay in central Florida until the trial if he was released.

Mr Kenny said his client suffers from arthritis and is deaf in one ear.

Neighbours of Mr Mardell, who lives in a terrace house on a small estate in Wood Green, said he had a wife and two grown-up children.

One described him as "aggressive" and short-tempered who "gets easily upset".