‘What do you think you’re doing?’: BA cabin crew catch drunk couple performing a sex act before take-off – after spotting woman with stockings off and legs in the air

• Couple sentenced after being convicted of entering an aircraft when drunk
• Prosecutor claimed air stewards had caught the pair engaged in a sexual act 
• Pickering said he and girlfriend consumed ‘five or six drinks’ before boarding 

A randy couple were hauled before the courts after they were spotted drunkenly engaging in ‘amorous’ foreplay at the back of a plane – before takeoff.

Christopher Pickering, 45, and girlfriend Rebecca Cross, 37, pleaded guilty to being drunk on a British Airways flight to Marseille, France last year.

The passengers had booked seats on the emergency exit row near the wings, but cabin crew at Heathrow decided the couple were too intoxicated to sit there for safety reasons and were moved to the back row.

Rebecca Elaine Cross, 37 and Christopher Pickering, 45 leave Uxbridge Magistrates Court in West London on December 3

Christopher Pickering flips the bird at photographers as he leaves the courthouse with his girlfriend on December 3

Prosecutor Ravinder Johal said as the plane taxied down near the runway at around 5.30pm on September 16, a cabin crew member caught Cross with her stockings off and her legs high in the air.

Pickering was viewed as having his hand in her crotch area, but as authorities could not decide what the randy pair were up to, they were only convicted of with entering an aircraft when drunk.

Mr Johal said: ‘The defendants were due to take the British Airways flight to Marseille in France departing at 5.30pm.

‘Valerie Hughes, an experienced cabin crew member, gave instructions that Mr Pickering and Miss Cross was not to be sat in the emergency exit seats due to their state of intoxication.

‘They were assigned seats in the back and she observed they were stumbling and drunk.

‘Mr Pickering had difficulty loading their luggage in the baggage compartment. She did hear that they said ‘f*ckers’ every other word.

‘She felt that they shouldn’t be allowed to remain on the flight, but were in fact seated in the 25th row.

‘A member of the public was moved from their seat to not cause offence.

Cross and Pickerage leave Uxbridge Magistrates court.The couple were hauled before the courts after they were spotted engaging in ‘amorous’ foreplay at the back of a flight 

‘Ms Hughes noticed Miss Cross had her legs hanging, they were open wide and raised in the air.

‘The male had her left hand on the vagina area and was moving his hand up and down.

‘She said, ‘what do you think you’re doing?’ The couple froze and the man kept his hand on the vagina area.

‘She instructed her to put her dress down. The flight had not taken off.

‘They were taken to the London Heathrow police station and admitted to the charge.’

Pickering, of Dunstable in Bedfordshire, and Cross, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, had said they had ‘five or six drinks’ in the lounge in two hours while they waited for the delayed flight.

A consideration for an adjournment was made at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on December 3 to file for the separate charge of indecent exposure, but this was discarded following the couple’s guilty pleas.

Carl Woolf, defending both Cross and Pickering, said: ‘There is a sexual aspect of the matter.

‘There was no formal review in the magistrates court. I have been in contact with the Crown Prosecution Service and confirmed that there is to be no additional charge with outraging public decency.

‘It’s very clear from the air stewardess there was some amorous behaviour, but she didn’t directly see any masturbation or penetration.’

Mr Woolf noted that Cross had previously plead guilty for a drink driving charge in July 2019.

Christopher Pickering, 45, and girlfriend Rebecca Cross, 37, pleaded guilty to being drunk on a British Airways flight to Marseille, France last year (stock image of BA plane) 

She was disqualified from driving for 26 months and had completed 100 hours of unpaid service in October last year.

Mr Woolf, in mitigation, said: ‘It’s right to say that following both of their interviews they both returned to the airport the next day.

‘Mr Pickering purchased flights at cost of £700 onto Marseille as he was meeting a client there and Miss Cross and he were allowed to fly.

‘Subsequently they’ve had the banning order from British Airways for 12 months.

‘There has been no issues whatsoever since that time, and both of them regularly travel for work.’

Prosecutor Ravinder Johal said as the plane taxied down near the runway at around 5.30pm on September 16, a cabin crew member caught Cross with her stockings off and her legs high in the air

He added: ‘This was a flight that was delayed by two to three hours.

‘That was the reason why both these defendants sat in the lounge and consumed alcohol to excess.

‘Mr Pickering flies many flights a year which does not suggest this was a problem in the past.

‘They were travelling together and once they had been seated at the rear of the plane, in effect privacy, they were amorous.

‘I make it clear there was no suggestion of any nudity and there is no suggestion she was not wearing underwear.

‘It was not appropriate behaviour on a plane, but as they say in their letter they are thoroughly ashamed and thoroughly apologetic.’

Pickering, who is listed as being the director of a consultancy firm on Companies House, was said to have a ‘substantial income’, paying large school fees for his children and financially supporting his ex-wife.

Cross, who wore a white blouse, black coat and red trousers, broke down in sobs after Judge Nicholas Wood, at Isleworth Crown Court, after she was told she would not face a custodial sentence for breaching the community order.

Judge Wood said: ‘I’m not considering a custodial sentence, either immediate or suspended. I am considering either a community order or a fine. I consider the previous order expired.’

Sentencing, he said: ‘I give you credit for pleading guilty and I will reduce the fine that I’m about to impose by a third.

‘I sentence you for being drunk on an aircraft and even though that it in itself is serious, the courts have said there’s a distinction between being offensive on an aircraft at 30,000 feet and on being offensive on an aircraft as it is being taxied on the ground.

‘You were deemed too drunk to sit in the emergency exit row, and were ordered to sit at the back of the plane.

‘I’m not going to sentence you for any charges for the behaviour afterwards, embarrassing and shocking as it may be to anyone who saw it.

‘But I can’t ignore it, it seems to me, because it is a part of the drunken behaviour.

‘No doubt what you did is known to your colleagues at work and I accept you are thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.’

Pickering was handed a £2000 fine, while Cross was given a 12-month community order and forced to undertake 60 hours of unpaid work.

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