The man who scaled Guernsey Airport’s fence twice in one weekend last year has been found guilty of breaching aviation security among other offences.
52-year-old Russel Payne had denied the charges but was found guilty by the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
He had originally faced a total of 12 charges – eight in relation to airport incidents, and four relating to events in 2021 and 2022 including motoring offences and failing to surrender to custody – but the Law Officers had previously agreed to drop some of the charges.
Following a trial in the Magistrates’s Court, Payne was found guilty of entering restricted areas at Guernsey Airport, resisting arrest, and assaulting an airport firefighter.
He was found not guilty of indecent exposure.
He was given a two-month suspended prison sentence and fined £500, however he was jailed for 25-days when he said he could not pay the fine.
After Payne was found guilty, the Airport Director said Guernsey Ports won’t hesitate to push for charges against anyone else who tries to enter restricted areas at the airport in the future.
“Any incursion of the airport is a criminal offence, and any member of the public who attempts to illegally access the aerodrome will be liable to prosecution, as this case demonstrates,” said Richard Thomasson.
“We have well-established aviation security arrangements and procedures in place to deal with such incidents, which are regularly tested. In this case, the guilty party was successfully intercepted on both occasions, as a result of our existing security provisions.”
Mr Thomasson said “the safety and security of all users of Guernsey Airport will always be our number one priority” explaining that flights had to be temporarily suspended while Payne was dealt with at the time of his offences.
“Although aerodrome incursions are extremely rare, we take such incidents very seriously,” he said.
“We initiated a full review of our existing security arrangements, which are robust and effective, and we will implement any appropriate actions as part of our ongoing commitment to high standards of aviation security.”