05 August 2005 Student's joke causes travel disruption
An Australian student has been left counting the cost of a text message she sent to a friend that led to an international flight being delayed for security reasons.
The judge, Recorder Rex Bryan, ordered Angela Sceats, 19, from Sydney, to pay the £15,000 bill for her legal costs.
The judge said: "The result was a waste of public resources and inconvenience, not to say fear, at Stansted airport. In this case the public should not be ordered to pay these costs."
Ms Sceats had sent a message to her friend saying that there was a bomb on the plane she was due to catch from Stansted airport to Dublin.
As a result, the police halted three scheduled flights, causing disruption and fear for many travellers, before Ms Sceats was arrested on arrival at the airport.
Although she was cleared of communicating false information and escaped a jail sentence, her prank has proven costly.
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