Drunken jet romp: socialite cleared

12 April 2012

A socialite accused of letting a stranger grope her breasts during a flight has said she is both "delighted and relieved" her six-month ordeal is over.

Clare Irby, a descendant of the Guinness brewing family, was accused of drinking up to 12 glasses of red wine on the flight from Bangalore, India, to London's Heathrow Airport on March 26.

But the jury of eight men and four women at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, took just 40 minutes to unanimously clear the single mother of being drunk on board an aircraft.

Miss Irby, 30, of Fulham, west London, smiled and looked at the ceiling as the jury foreman read out the not guilty verdict. She stood quietly in the dock fighting back tears before putting her hand on her chest and later wiping tears from her cheeks.

She mouthed "Oh my God" to her mother, Emma, who was sitting in the public gallery to the side of the court when she was acquitted. Her mother said: "It's great. I can't believe it."

Outside the courtroom, Miss Irby was laughing as she took a moment away from the cameras to hug her father, Old Etonian banker Paul Aschan, a scion of the Guinness brewing dynasty who has been in court with her throughout the three-day trial.

Later, Miss Irby waved and smiled for photographers as she hugged her mother outside. At one point, she punched the air and said: "It's over!"

In a statement, her solicitor Richard Slade said: "Clare simply wants to say that she's delighted and relieved that she has been acquitted on this charge. She wishes in particular to thank the jury for the time and careful consideration they have given this case and she now wants to be allowed a short period of quiet to enjoy some time with her family, in particular her young son."

Miss Irby constantly denied being drunk, saying she was just "tipsy" as she was suffering from sleep deprivation after getting only two-and-a-half hours' sleep in 48 hours.