An architect is on the run after drunkenly attacking a stewardess on a flight from Dubai and accusing her of being a racist after being asked not to disturb a sleeping baby.
Simone de Gale, 44, screamed ‘I’m an architect and you’re just a f***ing air hostess’ when she was told not to disturb the infant on a Virgin Atlantic flight, Ealing Magistrates’ Court heard today.
De Gale verbally abused flight attendants, jabbed victim Sarah Jane Buckland near the collarbone and grabbed her cardigan on the flight to Heathrow on February 5.
The architect flew into a rage when she was politely asked not to walk through an aisle where passengers, including a family with a nine-month-old baby, were sleeping.
She is accused of repeatedly calling cabin crew racist and telling one attendant: ‘You’re a f***ing dumb air hostess. You need to learn your place.’
On landing, officers attached to Heathrow Airport’s aviation policing team noticed the architect’s speech was slurred and her breath smelt strongly of alcohol, the court heard. She also stumbled when leaving the aircraft.
De Gale, of Notting Hill, was today convicted of four charges: behaving in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards a member of crew, being drunk aboard an aircraft and assaulting Ms Buckland by beating, and using threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
She failed to attend Ealing Magistrates’ Court and was found guilty in her absence, with a warrant put out for her arrest.
De Gale’s personal assistant contacted officials to say she has been stranded in Dubai since September 8 and was due to return to the UK at the weekend.
Prosecutor Sinan Ors told the court how de Gale became verbally abusive and threatening towards members of the cabin crew, before physically assaulting stewardess Ms Buckland.
Giving evidence, Ms Buckland described how the incident began when de Gale – who has previously been pictured meeting both King Charles and the Princess of Wales – attempted to cross an aisle near a sleeping family.
Ms Buckland told the court ‘I said to her: ‘Would you mind not crossing at the cross aisle?’
‘I say it every flight, and she came straight across and started shouting at me: “You’re a f***ing dumb air hostess. You need to learn your place”.
‘She called me racist. “You’ve only said this to me because you’re racist”.
‘It was just a barrage of those words.’
Asked how de Gale had been speaking, she replied: ‘Really loudly, really aggressive. It happened so quickly.’
Ms Buckland said de Gale had demanded to see the captain and made repeated references to her own profession.
‘She was pointing. “Get me the captain now. You’re only saying this to me because you’re racist, and I’m an architect and you’re just a f***ing air hostess”.’
She said a colleague approached and tried to calm de Gale, but the defendant allegedly began shouting at her too.
Ms Buckland said she and other crew members tried to calm down the confrontation: ‘We were all trying to defuse this lady,’ she said, adding that de Gale then started ‘pushing’ her and ‘jabbing’ her near her collarbone.
De Gale is then said to have announced she needed to go to the toilet.
Ms Buckland said: ‘The next thing, she came back and just grabbed my cardigan and pulled me towards her.’
Another attendant intervened, telling de Gale to let go of her colleague.
Ms Buckland added: ‘She absolutely laid hands on me.’
Other passengers had begun standing up as the confrontation developed, the witness said, and a male crew member, a former police officer, also arrived to assist.
Graham Cox told the court de Gale had boasted about earning more money than the cabin crew and owning her own architecture business.
He said she repeatedly accused the flight attendants of racism and claimed stewardesses were ‘only there to serve drinks and food’.
Asked what she had said about her profession, Mr Cox replied: ‘She said she earns significantly more money than they did. She’s an architect that owns her own business.’
He described her behaviour as ‘very loud, boisterous, aggressive’. ‘She was swearing,’ he said.
Mr Cox said de Gale was also getting into other passengers’ faces while holding a phone camera.
When arrested at Heathrow Airport, bodycam footage shows how she told officers: ‘I recorded everything on a video.’
Passenger Jonathan Shelbourne told the court de Gale had suggested she was a better person than the flight attendant because she earned significantly more money.
He said she also claimed to understand exactly what the aircraft’s bulkhead was for because she was an architect.
Mr Shelbourne praised the attendant’s response to the confrontation. ‘I was surprised at how well she kept her cool,’ he told the court.
Ms Buckland was eventually taken to the flight deck, where the pilots considered how to handle the situation, including restraining de Gale or diverting the flight.
Although she was not physically injured, the attendant said she had been badly shaken. She nevertheless agreed to return to the passenger cabin and continue her duties.
‘That’s what I’m there for. That’s what I’m trained to do,’ she explained.
Ms Buckland praised passengers who offered their support after witnessing the confrontation.
‘The passengers were incredible. It was unbelievable,’ she said.
She told the court the incident had made her more cautious when approaching travellers. ‘It has made me really aware of just the total escalation,’ she said. ‘I’m very hesitant now.’
Magistrates issued a warrant for de Gale’s arrest, not backed for bail.
De Gale is the founder and chief executive of Simone De Gale Architects, working on luxury homes and major developments in Britain, the UAE, and other nations around the world.
She has previously served as honorary treasurer and a board trustee at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Images show she met King Charles with her mother at Buckingham Palace in March last year, and Kate Middleton in May 2015.
She was named Architect of the Year at the Women in Construction Awards in 2017, and she is due to judge this year’s World Architecture Festival.
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