Irish lawyer jailed for racist rant on Air India flight found dead in UK

LONDON: An Irish human rights lawyer, who was jailed for hurling abusive rants at Air India crew on a flight from Mumbai to London, has been found dead just days after her release from prison in the UK.
Simone Burns' body was found on the beach at Beachy Head in East Sussex on June 1, just days after she was released from prison on parole on May 20. The death came to light only this Thursday.
Belfast-born Burns, who was head researcher at Palestinian rights organisation Badil, had been sentenced to six months jail on April 4 after pleading guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and assault during a hearing at Isleworth Crown Court in London.
In a viral video of the incident which took place on November 11, a drunken Burns can be seen racially abusing Air India crew for refusing to serve her a fourth bottle of wine on her business class flight to London. It captured her shouting, "I'm a f***ing international lawyer for the Palestinian people ... I am working for people like you and I don't get any money for it by the way and you won't give me a f****** glass of wine". She even spat on the face of one of the flight attendants for refusing her more alcohol and tried to light up a cigarette three times in the toilets.
A spokeswoman for Sussex police said: "The body of a woman found at Beachy Head on June 1 has been identified as 50-year-old Simone Burns. The death is not being treated as suspicious. The matter has been passed to the coroner's office." When asked whether the death was a suicide, she said: "We cannot comment on that. It is a matter for the coroner to rule on."
A friend told Daily Telegraph that Burns' world fell apart after the conviction and she had been targeted by Internet trolls after the video went viral.