Man who chased flight on tarmac at Dublin Airport avoids jail

A man has been spared jail for a drunken attack on Dublin Airport workers who stopped him chasing his flight as it was getting ready to take off.

Patrick Kehoe (24) caused a disruption and a security breach, and had to be tackled after he stormed on to the tarmac at Terminal 1.

The Co Wexford man had missed his flight to Amsterdam but tried to flag down his plane, at about 7am on September 27th last year.

He later completed a three-month restorative justice services programme supervised by the Probation Service. However, a bench warrant had been issued in July when he did not turn up for a scheduled sentence hearing.

His case reached its final destination on Tuesday when he appeared again at Dublin District Court.

Defence solicitor Peter Connolly explained his client had been sick on the last date.

He told the court that Kehoe’s case had “been going on some time” and was due for finalisation. He asked the judge to note his client had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

Victim impact statements were furnished. The court had been told that a probation report on Kehoe was favourable.

Judge Colin Daly ordered Kehoe, who remained silent during the hearing, to come back two hours later. When the case was called again, he told Kehoe he was free to go.

He applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing him a criminal conviction as well as a jail sentence.

Kehoe had been late for his flight but managed to get through the boarding gate and then past a door leading to the tarmac, close to the Ryanair plane.

He was restrained and held until gardaí came and arrested him.

Kehoe, from Raheenaskeagh, Oulart, Co Wexford pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting the Airport Police Service woman and an aircraft ground handler who intervened as he ran after his flight which was getting ready to take off.