Suspect in Trans-Atlantic flight scare sent to psychiatric hospital
A woman whose bizarre behaviour aboard a London-to-Washington flight provoked a massive security scare will be held indefinitely at a residential mental health facility in New Hampshire, a federal judge ruled today.
Catherine Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vermont, has been in federal custody since August 17, when United Flight 923 was diverted to Boston after Mayo urinated on the floor of the cabin and made statements the pilot and crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
At a hearing in federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, today, US Magistrate Timothy Hillman agreed with a defence request that Mayo be taken to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and be put in the official custody of her son, Joshua Mayo, 31.
Prosecutors agreed with the request for Mayo, who waived her right to a probable cause hearing on a charge of interfering with a flight crew.
Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, has said Mayo has a long history of mental illness. Mayo spoke very little during the hearing today, and did not audibly answer when the judge asked “Ms Mayo, how are you today?”
During a break, as her lawyer was explaining the conditions of her detention, Mayo repeatedly interrupted her and said: “I did not commit any criminal act. I am not responsible for the federal government arresting me.”
Mayo was to be held at the facility until her doctors determine it is safe for her to leave.
Kelley praised federal prosecutors for agreeing to a compassionate plan for Mayo as she awaits trial.
“I think they’re acknowledging that what she needs is treatment,” she said.
Joshua Mayo has described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been returning from several months in Pakistan when she was arrested. He said she has travelled there often since making a pen pal before September 11, 2001.
The scare on the flight from Heathrow to Washington’s Dulles airport came just a week after London authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights.
Federal officials have said they have no indications that Mayo had any links to terrorism.
“I think her behaviour on the plane ... demonstrates the fact there was mental illness at work here,” said Assistant US Attorney James Lang. “We don’t believe there is any terrorism angle here.”
