Heathrow passengers left ‘vomiting blood’ after masked gang sprayed tear gas

Four men have pleaded guilty to affray following an incident at Heathrow Airport in which a substance believed to be CS gas was sprayed during a confrontation, leaving several passengers and airport workers requiring medical treatment.

Tyrone Richards, 31, Anton Clarke-Butcher, 25, Omoneke Whyte, 31, and Denzel Eduardo, 29, entered their guilty pleas at Isleworth Crown Court in June.

The incident occurred at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 on December 7 last year and resulted in the terminal being locked down for several hours, causing significant disruption to passengers. At a sentencing hearing at Isleworth Crown Court, prosecutors said three of the defendants, wearing face coverings and dark clothing, sprayed a substance “believed to be CS spray” into a lift in a multi-storey airport car park shortly after 8am.

The lift contained two women who had arrived on a flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, that morning and two men who had met them at the airport. The court heard that the group prevented the defendants from entering the lift as other members of the public fled the area in distress.

Gas was subsequently released when the lift reached the ground floor, causing difficulties for people nearby, particularly around a Caffè Nero. More than 20 people were treated by paramedics and five were taken to hospital. A barista working at the coffee shop told the court that she began coughing and vomiting blood after being exposed to the substance. She said she was “scared” because she “felt fine one minute and then almost instantly unwell”.

The two women who had arrived from Johannesburg later went to an airport taxi forecourt, where the defendants followed them and took their suitcases, which were never recovered, the court heard. Prosecutors said CS gas was sprayed at close range into the face of one of the women, “causing her to start coughing and choking”.

The incident led to major disruption at Terminal 3, including problems with shuttle buses and train services after parts of the airport were locked down. Other passengers and airport workers described experiencing breathing difficulties following exposure to the substance.

A customer service agent described the incident as “terrifying”, telling the court that she “felt dizzy and like I was going to pass out”. She said a woman in a wheelchair whom she had been assisting “was struggling to breathe and using an inhaler”. A mother who had arrived on a flight from South Africa with her 14-month-old son said the child began coughing. “I was immediately afraid for my baby’s safety and my own safety,” she told the court.

Another man, who had been arranging a taxi from the airport car park, said “20 to 30 people were all coughing” and that he was “struggling to breathe”. Prosecutor Gary Rutter said he “could not say exactly what led to this incident”, although he added that “one may suspect what was going on”.

Rutter said the incident left “members of the public, coughing, vomiting, and some vomited blood”. Richards was arrested while still at Heathrow, while the other three defendants were subsequently identified and arrested separately. During mitigation, lawyers for the defendants disputed aspects of the prosecution’s account.

Genevieve Moss, representing Eduardo, said the CS gas “was discharged by the rival group”. She said Eduardo has asthma and exposure to the substance would have had a “dangerous impact on him”. Moss argued that Eduardo, who has 12 previous convictions for 18 offences, would have “not agreed to take part in any activity involving such a substance” and said he expressed “deep remorse”.

Rushnay Sikander, representing Whyte, said her client was “very remorseful”. She also told the court that he had experienced a “traumatic childhood”, including the murder of his father when he was five, and had been the victim of three separate stabbings.

Shanda McAteer, representing Clarke-Butcher, who has 14 convictions for 31 offences, said he denied releasing the gas and “genuinely expresses remorse”. Patrick Harte, representing Richards, who has three previous convictions, said his client was “not present when the first spray was released” and was “sorry to innocent bystanders suffering anguish”. The sentencing hearing continues.