Salman Iftikhar, a rich London businessman, has been jailed for 15 months for his 2023 outburst on a London-Lahore Virgin Atlantic flight, the place he threatened an airhostess with gangrape, accusing her of being racist. “You known as me a P*ki in entrance of all people,” Iftikhar informed the airhostess including that she can be dragged out of her resort room, gangraped and set alight. On February 7, 2023, Iftikhar was flying on the Virgin Atlantic flight in first-class along with his spouse and three kids. The argument began when Iftikhar was consuming on the onboard bar and taking ice along with his arms. “Mr Iftikhar was seen consuming champagne on the onboard bar, the place he was speaking to cabin crew,” stated prosecutor Abdul Kapadia. “Through the defendant’s first meal service, the defendant was seen serving to himself to ice, leaning over bar he was consuming at, and taking ice along with his arms.“When informed to cease, the defendant grew to become irate, and began to movie cabin crew along with his telephone, telling them: ‘Don’t inform me what to do, you b**ch. When requested by the cabin crew to return to his seat, he then stated: ‘Do not inform me what to do you racist f**king b**ch. I do know the place you’re from in Cardiff.'”The pilot was knowledgeable in regards to the altercation and he turned the seat belt lights on so that everybody went again to their seats. “The defendant’s behaviour grew to become worse. The cabin crew mentioned a diversion to Turkey. The defendant was knowledgeable of this attainable diversion, to which he replied: ‘I do not care. F**okay it, go to Turkey. I’ve contacts.’ The defendant then sat down, however his aggressive behaviour continued. His spouse was ashamed. His three kids have been additionally on-board, and different crew members have been known as to help, however the defendant continued shouting and swearing,” Kapadia informed the court docket.“He was slurring his phrases, along with his voice raised. He shouted on the cabin crew: ‘Are you aware who I’m?’ The defendant’s spouse went to the meals bar and tried to speak to cabin crew, however the defendant pushed his spouse away, and shouted at her to not speak to crew. A crew member stabilised the spouse’s arm to forestall her from falling when she was pushed,” the court docket was informed. Iftikhar additionally threatened to explode the ground of the Avari Lahore Lodge, the place the cabin crew have been as a result of keep. “You’ll be useless on the ground of your resort,” he threatened the crew after which he turned in direction of the airhostess and stated: “You’ll be dragged by your hair out of your room and gang raped and set on hearth”. His three younger kids have been crying and pleading for him to cease.When the flight landed in Lahore, no motion was taken towards Iftikhar, however he was arrested on March 16, 2024, from his dwelling in Iver, Buckinghamshire.Iftikhar has six earlier convictions arising from 15 offences, together with widespread assault in 2004 and drink driving in 2008. Based on his LinkedIn profile, he’s the director and founding father of the recruitment agency Staffing Match.The air hostess informed the court docket she needed to take 14 months off work as she was traumatized by the specter of being gangraped.
