A NORTH-East doorman last night relived the moment he helped wrestle an aggressive drunk to the floor at 35,000ft.

Gary Jackson, 28, of Redcar, east Cleveland, was flying back to Manchester after a two-week holiday in Cancun, Mexico, with his girlfriend when the drama unfolded. The doorman said he noticed a fellow passenger acting in a strange manner.

He said: "He was acting really weird and dodgy and was speaking to himself.

"His eyes were all over the place and he was just walking up and down. He sat down and started hassling people.

"He was told to behave but he just kept doing it."

The man, 33-year-old Rafal Krawczyk, is alleged to have leapt from his seat and kicked an exit door and was heard shouting "You're all going to die".

Mr Jackson, along with three other passengers, including an off-duty police officer, pinned him down before staff controlled him with restraining belts.

"My girlfriend was crying and other women were screaming," said Mr Jackson. "It was quite a traumatic time. As a doorman I have been in similar situations but you can throw someone out on the street - but you can't when you are at 35,000ft."

The captain diverted the Thomsonfly Boeing 767 to Sanford Airport in Orlando, Florida.

Mr Jackson's girlfriend Cherelle Baker, 21, a law student at Teesside University, said: "When we landed at Orlando, there were FBI officers with guns all over the place."

The passengers had to spend the night in a hotel before reaching their destination on Monday.