A man has been jailed after starting a fire in the toilet of a plane carrying more than 200 people.

John Cox, 46, pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

The Monarch Airbus A321, which was travelling from Birmingham to Sharm el-Sheikh, had to issue an emergency mayday call as crew struggled to put out the blaze in a waste paper bin.

The flight was 35,000ft (10,668m) in the air and 100 miles (160km) from the Egyptian coast when the captain issued an emergency call and declared he was looking to carry out an emergency landing, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

The Crown Prosecution Service said a fire alarm had already gone off in a bathroom on the plane carrying 194 passengers and seven crew an hour into the flight but this was put out by airline staff.

The second fire took place at around 5.40pm, when the captain issued the emergency call. It was only after the blaze was extinguished that he cancelled the mayday.

District Crown Prosecutor for West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, Paul Reid, said: "The motive of John Cox behind such a senseless crime is still unclear, but what is clear is that his irresponsible actions put the lives of all passengers and crew on board the aircraft in danger.

"We commend the cabin crew for their quick action in extinguishing the fires, which prevented the situation escalating."