British golfer Chloe Frankish denied bail over drunken fracas at Malta airport

A professional UK golfer and her male companion caused an hour’s delay to their flight and pandemonium at Malta International Airport after they were denied boarding for being drunk and disorderly, a court has heard today.

Golfer Chloe May Frankish, 25, from Kent in the UK. and John Chinedu Uche, 31 from London were accused of violently resisting arrest, disobeying legitimate police orders, breaching the peace, being drunk and disorderly on a passenger aircraft and disobeying orders to disembark.

Frankish, alone, was further charged with causing €436 worth of damage to the desk at the airport police station and with slightly injuring a police officer. On Uche’s part, he was separately charged with insulting and threatening a public officer with the intention of intimidating him into not performing his duties.

Inspector Roxanne Tabone told Magistrate Abigail Critien that after being denied permission to board their EasyJet flight as they were drunk and disorderly, the pair had violently resisted the police, who had to call in the Rapid Intervention Unit for backup.

The court was told that police officers had encountered great difficulty in subduing Uche who had to be tasered multiple times, and that Frankish had kicked and broken in two a wooden desk at the airport police station. While under arrest, Frankish had also claimed to be pregnant, a claim which was subsequently found to be untrue after a medical examination was carried out.

While Frankish cooperated fully with the police, police said Uche’s behaviour was “catastrophic”.

The defendants initially appeared intent to plead guilty, but the eventual fines and damages were going to exceed the combined daily withdrawal limits of all six of the credit cards they had on them, as well as the three working day minimum required for inter-bank transfers to go through. “You need to understand that logistically, we need to confirm that payment has been made,” the magistrate explained to the defendants.

After being given time to consider their options, the couple first pleaded guilty; after the magistrate observed that they did not appear to understand what the plea meant, the pair pleaded not guilty after consulting their lawyer. Bail was not requested, with the defendants being remanded in custody.