A lawyer who was jailed after spitting at a flight attendant for refusing her alcohol has been found dead at Beachy Head.

The body of Simone Burns was found at the beauty spot on 1 June.

The 50-year-old had been released from prison just 13 days earlier.

Burns was jailed in April after pleading guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and assault.

She was initially served three bottles of red wine but declared “I’m a fucking international lawyer” when she was denied more on an Air India flight from Mumbai to London on November 11 2018.

She also called staff “Indian money-grabbing c****” and smoked a cigarette in the toilets during the tirade which was condemned by a member of the cabin staff as unlike anything he had seen during his 30-year aviation career.

The lawyer, who was Irish and worked with refugees around the world, unleashed a barrage of abuse in a prolonged rant which also saw her spit and grab the arm of the steward, the court heard.

Burns was also ordered to pay £300 compensation to the crew member who was assaulted.

Defending her, Mark Kimsey suggested her actions were due to a “mixture of altitude, the consumption of drink and anxiety” at the fact that she was likely to miss the funeral of an uncle.

He said at the time Burns was “totally ashamed of her behaviour”, adding: “This is not a lady who has a drink problem. This is not a woman who has a drug problem. This is totally out of character.”

Burns was diagnosed with facial skin cancer in 2000 and has had multiple biopsies and surgeries to what is “an active problem”, according to Kimsey.

He added she was waiting to get a prosthetic nose.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “The death is not being treated as suspicious and next of kin have been informed. The matter has been passed to the East Sussex Coroner’s Officer.” 

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