Hoaxer: Matthew Davis

An aircraft cabin crew member who sparked a mid-air bomb scare in order to display his skills, has been jailed.

Matthew Davis pulled the twisted stunt on a flight to London from Toyko, in February.

He scrawled on a toilet door: “The bomb on this plane will explode at 16:00GMT unless demands are met”.

The chilling message was found by colleague while the aircraft was flying over the Middle East. The captain correctly assessed it as a hoax.

Metropolitan police officers were scrambled to Heathrow airport in west London, where Davis, 22, was arrested.

Davis claimed he wanted to spark a panic to which he could respond professionally – and earn credit at his next performance review.

He was jailed for six months for communicating false information with intent.

Superintendent Matthew Twist of the Metropolitan Police Service Aviation Security Command said: “As someone employed within the aviation industry, Mr Davis would have been well aware of the serious consequences of making a bomb threat, regardless of whether he intended for this threat to be taken seriously or not.

“The potential consequences of the threat being made could have led to significant distress and a great deal of financial loss and inconvenience to both the airline and all of the passengers and crew onboard.

“We hope today’s sentence sends a clear message that anyone caught making a bomb hoax will be brought before the courts and dealt with appropriately.”