Lee Jezard managed to get on a Lufthansa plane at Birmingham Airport. A 22-year-old man who breached layers of airport security before boarding an empty plane was too drunk to recall how he did it. Lee Jezard pleaded guilty to getting aboard a Lufthansa plane and evading security measures at Birmingham Airport by climbing through a baggage carousel, on July 17.

Appearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court, Jezard —who lost his job as a hotel manager when his employer found out about the incident— also admitted stealing £36.45 worth of foodstuffs from the airport’s Caffe Nero.

David Devine, prosecuting, said that despite reports Jezard was at the airport after missing a flight to the holiday island of Ibiza, a study of all plane manifests revealed "he was never booked onto any flight".

He described the actions of Jezard, of Jubilee Avenue, Redditch, Worcestershire, as a "drunken escapade".

In mitigation, Jezard’s solicitor Tariq Khan said his client "really had very little idea how he arrived at the airport" after going on a drinking binge with friends in Birmingham city centre.

It emerged in court that police had already spoken to a "wandering" and "clearly intoxicated" Jezard, after spotting him in other parts of the airport in the hours before the security breach, added Mr Khan.

It was the same police officer who later "frog-marched him off the aeroplane" following his discovery on board.