Police cleared cockpit intruder

The intruder was overpowered in the cabin

The man who nearly brought down a British Airways jumbo jet had been cleared by police to board the aircraft before it left London, it has emerged.

Paul Kefa Mukonyi was allowed onto the Nairobi-bound Boeing 747, and then five hours into the flight burst into cockpit and tried to grab the controls.

The plane nose-dived 10,000ft before Mukonyi, 27, was overpowered and a co-pilot managed to regain control.

Mukonyi was arrested when the plane landed

Mukonyi, who is studying at a university in France, told ground staff at Gatwick Airport he was being followed and asked for police.

A BA spokeswoman said: "We escorted the man to the gate and the police were called at the man's own request because he was confused.

"After talking to him police decided he was confused, but fit to travel."

A spokeswoman for Sussex police said: "The decision to let him fly was down to the airline. Unless he commits an offence we have no powers to stop him."

BA confirmed that the decision to allow passengers to make journeys rested with them.

"He was flying with us, so ultimately responsibility for letting him on was down to us," said an airline spokesman.

'Mad' policy

One of the passengers, singer Bryan Ferry has called on BA to review its cockpit security policy.

Ferry and his family were among the 379 travellers on board flight BA2069.

The Roxy Music frontman told The Mail on Sunday the practice of leaving the door between the cockpit and the cabin unlocked during flights was "mad".

Ferry, 55, who was setting off on a holiday in Zanzibar with his wife and two sons, said: "Another four seconds and we would have died, which is a very sobering thought.

Bryan Ferry: "Another four seconds and we would have died"

"Luckily the captain was a well-set man, courageous and strong."

BA currently has a policy of locking cockpit doors only during take-off and landing.

The airline said security issues were being reviewed following Friday's incident but did not pledge to copy American and Israeli airlines which keep the door locked for the entire flight.

BA spokesman Michael Blunt said: "The door is locked on take-off and it is locked again on landing but there has to be constant communication between the cockpit and the cabin crew."

'Very ill man'

Captain William Hagan, 53, and his co-pilot Richard Webb, 35, restrained Mukonyi with the help of business class passengers as another co-pilot, Phil Watson, 38, regained control of the aircraft.

Northern Ireland-born Mr Hagan, who lives in Glasgow, arrived back in London early on Saturday morning and played down his actions.

Captain William Hagan: Praised crew

"I pulled a man from the controls and my co-pilot who was sitting there did what he had to do," he said.

He said of Mr Watson: "He controlled and recovered the aircraft and he did it well."

The pilot earlier said the plane had been within seconds of flipping over and crashing if the intruder had not been overpowered.

Mukonyi, who had been living in France and flew to England to board the flight to his homeland, is being assessed by doctors in Nairobi.

Psychiatrists there said they were dealing with a "very ill man" but did not believe the attack on the jet had been premeditated, nor did they think Mukonyi had intended to crash the jet.