A woman who had to be escorted off a Ryanair flight by police after reports she was ‘drunken and disruptive’ has been handed a suspended sentence.

Lyndsey Fitzsimmons, 39, reportedly swore and shouted at passengers and crew during a Ryanair flight from Lanzarote to Manchester in February.

Fitzsimmons, who had pleaded guilty to being drunk on an aircraft at an earlier hearing, claimed she had consumed two pints of lager and taken two 10mg tablets of diazepam for her anxiety before the flight, but did not drink any alcohol on the plane.

Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard police were called out by Ryanair staff less than 20 minutes before the flight was due to land.

The court heard six police officers boarded the flight as it landed to arrest Fitzsimmons. Officers said they could smell alcohol on her breath and her speech was slurred.

Fitzsimmons told police she had only drunk two pints and no evidence was presented to the court that she had drunk any more.

Fitzsimmons, from Cheshire, initially pleaded not guilty to being drunk on an aircraft at her first appearance at Manchester Magistrates Court on 2 March but later changed her plea to guilty on 26 May, the Manchester Evening News reports.

In court yesterday, she was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Judge Recorder Paul Reid QC said: “It was the rather ill-advised combination of drink and medication that led to the condition.”