Sala flight organiser convicted over plane deaths

The organiser of the flight in which footballer Emiliano Sala died has been found guilty by majority verdict of endangering the safety of an aircraft.

David Henderson, 67, was found guilty after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

Sala, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, died in the crash in the English Channel in January 2019.

He had also previously admitted trying to arrange a flight for a passenger without permission or authorisation.

It took the jury seven and a half hours to convict Henderson, who will be sentenced on 12 November.

Argentine striker Sala and Ibbotson died after their single-engine Piper Malibu plunged into the English Channel on a flight between Cardiff and Nantes in January 2019, set up by Henderson with football agent William “Willie” McKay.

The footballer was involved in a £15m transfer to Cardiff City from Nantes and was travelling between the two cities at the time of his death.

Prosecutor Martin Goudie QC said Henderson had been “reckless or negligent” in the way he operated the plane, by putting his business above the safety of passengers.

Goudie said Henderson had created a culture of breaching the air navigation regulations among the pilots he hired.

Fay Keely, who owned the plane, had told Henderson not to allow Ibbotson to pilot the plane again after being contacted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about two airspace infringements he had committed.

Despite this, Henderson allowed Ibbotson to continue flying, and his message to the pilot read: “We both have an opportunity to make money out of the business model but not if we upset clients or draw the attention of the CAA.”

Goudie accused Henderson of lying in his statements to investigators, and of running a “cowboy outfit” after questioning him over failings to keep basic information on his pilots.In his closing speech, he claimed Henderson ran an “incompetent, undocumented and dishonest organisation”.