Businessman arrested after sex attack on girl on easyJet flight

Andrew Reay touched a teenage girl’s leg on the flight (Image: Manchester Evening News)A pervert “high on drugs” sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl on an easyJet flight from Lanzarote to Manchester.Andrew Reay, 46, told the teenager he wanted to “f*** her” and touched her leg during the journey from the Canary Island. A court heard the warped businessman left his victim feeling “awkward” and “disgusting” but he was spared jail on Tuesday – and allowed to return to Lanzarote.Judge Maurice Greene suspended Reay’s four-month prison sentence for 12 months.Sentencing at Minshull Street Crown Court, the judge said an immediate jail term would have an “effect on his (Reay’s) employees”.”You targeted this 17-year-old student who was minding her own business and you were suggestive to her. You gave her little room, opened your legs out so your legs were against her legs, and then rubbed her leg up and down,” the judge added.”You knew that was unpleasant for her. You said at one point, ‘am I making you uncomfortable?’. You knew she was 17 because you said ‘it’s a shame you are 17 because I want to f*** you.”This was a young lady of 17 who all she wanted to do was fly from one place to another, and she had to contend with your attentions in a place that she could not really escape, on a plane.”The defendant, who now runs a business in Lanzarote, must also pay costs of £400 and had signed the sex offenders register following his conviction, Manchester Evening News says. The incident took place on board an easyJet flight (Image: Getty Images)Minshull Street Crown Court was told Reay, who was sat to the right of the student, was “loud and messing around” with another passenger who appeared to be his friend.Reay bought alcohol from the cabin crew and, after consuming it, began to make the teenager feel “uncomfortable” on September 2, 2020.Virginia Hayton, prosecuting, said: “She (the victim) tried to move but he would get hold of her arm, telling her to stay.”The lawyer told the court that after more than an hour, Reay’s friend fell asleep, before the defendant “turned all his attention” to her.Ms Hayton explained the teenager described Reay being “super friendly” and encouraging her to have a drink. Despite making her feel “awkward”, Reay “kept on at her” and eventually she “relented” and had a drink.The court heard Reay boasted about having taken drugs before the flight – claiming cannabis was “not hard enough” for him so he had “put white powder” in his joints “to make them good”. Reay was “touchy” with members of cabin crew, Ms Hayton said, while he continued to grab the girl’s arm.Ms Hayton said Reay opened his legs wide enough to touch the teenager’s, which made her feel “horrible”. He then placed his left hand on her thigh and “ran it up and down over her trousers”, leaving her feeling “disgusting”, the court heard.”She said she just wanted to go home and have a shower,” said Ms Hayton. The court heard how Reay made comments about having sex with the teenager and she pushed his hand away.Ms Hayton said: “He said ‘it’s a shame’ she was only 17 and ‘he would like to f*** her’.” She added: “She felt like crying. She felt scared. She thought he could get violent at any time.”The teenager called cabin crew, who moved Reay to another seat on the plane. Ms Hayton told the court that another passenger, whose son had autism and wore a head harness, then described Reay ‘shouting and swearing’ at them.In a statement, the flight’s captain said he considered diverting the flight to Birmingham Airport because of Reay’s behaviour. But Reay eventually fell asleep in his new seat, and he was arrested at Manchester Airport on arrival.The court heard Reay, originally from Crewe, Cheshire, now lives on the Canary Islands and runs a business there. He had pleaded not guilty to section 3 sexual assault on a female at Manchester Magistrates Court, but was convicted following a trial.Defending, Eleanor Gleeson said her client “understands the seriousness of the offence” and now shows “remorse” for his actions. Reay had no convictions since the year 2000, and although His Honour Greene said the defendant had “a number of difficulties” in his youth, had since “made a life for himself in the Canary Islands”.