The businessman who prepared the unlawful flight that killed footballer Emiliano Sala has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Sala and the unmarried-engine aircraft's pilot, David Ibbotson, had been killed after it crashed into the English Channel in January 2019. After joining Cardiff City from Nantes in France, the 28-12 months-old striker turned into on his manner to be unveiled by his new group.
After being determined guilty with the aid of a majority verdict at Cardiff Crown Court in October, 67-year-antique David Henderson, who organized the flight with soccer agent Willie McKay, become sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday for endangering the protection of an aircraft.
Henderson, a former RAF officer, had asked Mr. Ibbotson to fly the plane whilst he became on vacation in Paris, no matter the latter's loss of a commercial pilot's license or qualification to fly at night, in addition to the reality that his single-engine Piper Malibu score had expired.
After hearing approximately the incident, Henderson texted a number of humans, telling them no longer to say whatever and warning them that it'd "open a can of worms." He instructed the court that he became terrified of a company inquiry.
"The actions of David Henderson are handiest one piece within the puzzle of how the plane David Ibbotson become illegally flying came to crash into the sea on 21 January 2019," said Daniel Machover, a lawyer representing the Sala family.
"We still do now not understand the important thing records about the upkeep records of the aircraft and all of the factors at the back of the carbon monoxide poisoning found out in August 2019."
Henderson's legal crew is debating whether to report an enchantment.
