No trial for bomb threat suspect

The suspect was flying to Luton on the way to Cuba

A French lawyer accused of making a bomb hoax on board an Easyjet flight to England will not stand trial over the matter.

On Wednesday, the prosecution announced it would not be offering any evidence against Yves Massiani.

Luton Crown Court was told the lawyer, who lives in St Tropez in the south of France, is too ill with heart problems to travel to England for a trial.

Judge Ronald Moss agreed that a verdict of not guilty should be recorded.

Mr Massiani had pleaded not guilty to making a bomb threat on an Easyjet flight from Nice to Luton on 12 February.

It followed an alleged confrontation with flight attendant Dawn Bradford over his hand luggage as flight EJ258 approached Luton Airport.

Mr Massiani of Rue Gambetta, St Tropez, who had been described at an earlier hearing as an eminent civil rights lawyer and who has prepared reports on terrorism, was travelling from Nice to Luton with a woman colleague en route to Cuba for a business meeting.

Passengers searched

As a result of the alleged confrontation with Ms Bradford, which had made her believe a bomb was present, security staff searched passengers and luggage after the plane had landed.

Nothing was found but Mr Massiani was arrested.

Since then the lawyer's health had worsened and at an earlier hearing the judge was told the lawyer, who had been granted bail, had serious heart problems and was unable to leave France.

Fred Fergusson, for the prosecution, told the court the question of whether to try Mr Massiani in his absence had been considered, but it was felt this would not be a correct course.

He said that bearing in mind the time that had elapsed since his arrest and the further time it would take before he was fit to travel to England, it would not be in the interests of justice to continue with the case and he was offering no evidence.