A passenger who threatened a check-in worker at Gatwick Airport and hid a lock knife in his luggage has been jailed.
Franco Vences, 39, from Crawley in West Sussex, arrived at the airport on the morning of 1 December 2023 without a ticket, telling staff he intended to fly to Texas in the United States.
When a member of check-in staff moved to handle his bag, Vences warned her not to touch it, saying she would “get hurt”. Asked what was inside the luggage, he replied “C-4” — a reference to the plastic explosive.
Alarmed staff alerted police. Officers searched the bag and found a black-handled locking knife with a six-centimetre blade.
Vences was charged with possession of a bladed article in a public place. He initially denied the offence but later changed his plea to guilty.
He was sentenced to five months in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 10 September.
Detective Sergeant Ian Warncken, of Gatwick CID, said an incident of this kind had the potential to spark a major security alert at an airport used by tens of thousands of passengers every day. He said public safety was the force’s number one priority, urged passengers to familiarise themselves with airport security rules and to double-check their luggage before travelling, and warned that carrying a locking knife without an extremely good reason is a criminal offence — adding that forgetting to check a bag is not a defence.
It follows a difficult stretch for the Sussex airport, which narrowly avoided strike chaos earlier this year when airport workers accepted a new pay deal.
What the rules say about knives at UK airports
Under UK government guidance, knives with a sharp or pointed blade — and any knife with a blade longer than six centimetres — are banned from hand luggage and cannot be taken through airport security. They may only travel in hold luggage, and passengers are advised to check with their airline first.
In Vences’s case, the “C-4” remark led directly to his arrest, with officers treating the situation as a live security incident until the bag had been searched and the knife recovered.
Gatwick is heading into a busy winter, with Jet2 planning its biggest winter schedule yet from the airport, including 13 new routes to sun, snow and Christmas market destinations.
How courts punish knife possession
Possession of a bladed article in a public place, under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, is triable either way and carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, according to the Sentencing Council. The offence range runs from a fine to two and a half years in custody, while courts must impose at least six months’ imprisonment where the conviction is a second or further relevant offence. Sentencing Council guidance for the offence applies in both magistrates’ and Crown courts, and notes that the offence is subject to statutory minimum sentencing provisions.
Police have stressed that a locking knife counts as a bladed article whatever its length, and that carrying one in public without an extremely good reason is a criminal offence. Forgetting that the knife is in a bag is not a defence in law.
It is one of a string of knife-related cases in the capital, including a recent drugs raid in Deptford in which a sword, a zombie knife and a replica gun were seized.
For Londoners flying from Gatwick — one of the capital’s two major airports — the case is a reminder to check every pocket and compartment of luggage before leaving home. What might be an everyday tool in the kitchen drawer becomes a criminal offence the moment it is carried, knowingly or not, into an airport terminal.
