Drunk passenger on flight to Heathrow groped female passenger's breast through the seat gap

A drunk plane passenger sexually assaulted a mother-of-two on a Qatar Airways flight to Heathrow.

Father-of-three Saranjeet Bassi, 29, groped the breast of the woman by reaching through the gap in the seats in front of him while they were flying. Bassi was returning to Scotland after visiting his brand new baby in India when the incident occurred.

"I feel what he did was sexual, the grabbing of my boob," the woman said in a victim impact statement, according to The Mirror.

"I have a mix of emotions, I was angry and wanted him off the flight," she said. "I was with my kids and it makes me feel sick and violated. He took advantage and I don't want him to do this to anyone else."

The victim told the jury that she felt Bassi put his hand through the gap in the seats and grab her right breast. She also said that Bassi began playing with her 18-month-old son between the seats about 20 minutes into the flight.

"He said: 'What a cute child, can I offer him a sweet?' I said: 'No' because I could smell alcohol on his breath and did not want anything to do with him."

Bassi, of Causewayhead, Stirling, was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman on the Qatar Airways flight on 12 December 2016, the Mirror reported. He was sentenced to a two-year community order, 200 hours community service and to pay £1,000 in court costs.

He was also ordered to attend at least 100 days of a probation-service ordered rehabilitation activity requirement, including an alcohol treatment programme. The young father reportedly turned to alcohol after his 52-year-old mother Gurmit Bassi was convicted at Glasgow's High Court of murdering his father's new pregnant wife in 1998.

Isleworth Crown Court heard Bassi was convicted of exposing himself in 2014 for masturbating in front of two women.

"Alcohol seems to have played a part and this was a consequence of having consumed too much and the abuse of alcohol that has played a part in his life up until now," Matthew Pardoe, defending, said.

"He is not a daily drinker, but a binge drinker and now says he has stopped completely.

"He is very scared about the prospect of going to prison."

The victim told the jury that she confronted Bassi after being groped. "I stood up immediately and said: 'Excuse me, that's not called for' and gave him a look of disgust and he just stared at me."

She complained to cabin crew, but he refused to move and later told police that doing so would be an admission of wrongdoing. The victim was sitting in a baby seat with a cot, and was forced to remain in her seat.

Bassi was arrested at Heathrow when the plane touched down. According to MailOnline, he was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.