A woman who tried to open an aircraft door at 32,000 ft has been sentenced to 18 months' probation.

Ann Gilmour, 47, from Glasgow, was expected to be jailed for the incident on the Air France flight carrying 100 passengers from Paris to Edinburgh in January.

But she received a lesser sentence after Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard it would have been "physically impossible" to open the aircraft door at that height.

Gilmour was pulled away from the door after cabin crew saw her trying to turn the handle on the front exit door of the plane 90 minutes after it left Charles de Gaulle airport at 10am on January 7 with 100 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew on board.

The court had originally been told Gilmour's actions could have had "catastrophic" results, with the door being blown away causing a sudden drop in pressure and temperature inside the cabin.

The court heard that a warning light was triggered in the cockpit and cabin crew had been "extremely scared" by the incident.

Gilmour, who has a history of mental illness, later said she wanted to jump out of the plane and kill herself. She was restrained and was arrested on arrival at Edinburgh Airport and has been in custody ever since.

Gilmour,  who had already pled guilty to recklessly and negligently endangering an aircraft and the people on board, will now ask judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal to look at the case.

Sheriff Isabella McColl said: "I have obtained two opinions from experts in the Civil Aviation Authority and both agree that the design of the door in the aircraft is such that it would have been impossible for Miss Gilmour to have physically opened the door.

"Turning the handle is possible, it triggers a light in the captain's cabin.

"But beyond that it would be physically impossible to have opened the door.

The Sheriff sentenced her for a breach of the peace after hearing passengers were not in danger.

"If there had been any risk of opening the door custody would have been the only option,"

"It is accepted by the Crown that this charge does not apply to Miss Gilmour and she is not guilty of this offence," said the sheriff.
"Her conduct was in fact breach of the peace and a reasonably serious one given it occurred in an aircraft," she added.

Sheriff McColl ordered Gilmour to take mental health support as part of her probation.