A drunken passenger threatened to stab a pilot and air steward and kill everyone on board an easyJet flight to Malaga.

Martin Johnson, who lives in Essex but is originally from Scotland, bought two bottles of duty free white wine at Bristol Airport and downed one before boarding the easyJet aircraft.

Passengers saw the 56-year-old in his seat swigging from the second bottle of wine hidden in a bag under his seat before disappearing to the toilets, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said cabin crew found an empty bottle of wine in the toilet and also discovered that someone had urinated all over the cubicle.

They alerted the pilot and when they announced over a public address system that the flight was returning to Bristol, Johnson became abusive.

He told cabin crew: "If the pilot turns us around I am going to stab him and I am going to hit him."

Johnson then added: "I'm going to stab an air hostess and kill everybody on the plane."

The court heard Johnson's drunken behaviour had caused disruption to many of the 153 passengers whose holidays and travel were delayed until the following day.

Johnson, who is also known as James Kelly, was arrested when the flight landed back at Bristol on the evening of April 27 having turned around after 25 minutes while over Guernsey.

Ms Wood said: "He told police he had drunk the first bottle of wine in the departure lounge. He didn't think he was drunk and he denied making the threats the witnesses say he did."

Johnson had previously pleaded not guilty to being drunk on an aircraft but after skipping bail was convicted by magistrates in his absence and later arrested in Glasgow.

The court heard the incident caused easyJet to lose "tens of thousands of pounds".

Johnson has been banned from flying with the budget airline ever again.

Jailing him for eight months, Judge Michael Longman said Johnson's behaviour would have disrupted holidays, business meetings and flight schedules, as well as causing "fear and alarm" for passengers.

The judge added: "When people act irresponsibly and idiotically like you did, sentences of imprisonment will always be required.

"I take into account there was no physical violence, although the oral threats were bad enough. In the circumstances there must be a sentence of immediate imprisonment."

An easyJet spokewoman said "Whilst they are rare, easyJet takes all incidents of disruptive behaviour very seriously. We have a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of all of our employees.

"Our employees are trained to assess and evaluate all incidents and act quickly and appropriately.

"We do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour and always push for prosecution."