A Cambridge lecturer who has advised the UN on migration and refugees has avoided jail after calling a passenger a 'jihadist' on board a British Airways flight.
Dr Adam Coutts, 48, told Hammad Aziz that he should 'shave his beard' and that he looked 'like a jihadist' after Mr Aziz tried to intervene in a conversation between Coutts and another passenger.
The academic added during the drunken rant: 'You should go to Birmingham to blow yourself up,' before accusing Mr Aziz and his wife, Fatima Hashim, of being in an illegal marriage.
Uxbridge Magistrates' Court heard that Coutts, a married father-of-two, then became aggressive after being challenged for being racist, grabbing a phone from Mr Aziz's hand while on board the flight travelling from Cairo to Heathrow on July 15.
Prosecutor Stephanie McQueen said: 'During the incident [Coutts] retained possession of the phone and refused to give it back, saying, "I don't legally need to give it back. I am a doctor, I need the police here."'
He was arrested after the plane landed at Heathrow Airport.
Coutts, a doctor of philosophy who has lectured in public policy at Cambridge and advised United Nations agencies and global NGOs on the Middle East and North Africa, appeared in the dock wearing a navy suit accompanied by a mental health nurse.
Reading Mr Aziz's victim personal statement at the trial on August 21, Ms McQueen said: 'The whole incident was completely shocking and distressing to me. He attacked me because of my heritage.
Cambridge lecturer Dr Adam Coutts appeared outside court charged with racially aggravated harassment, common assault, criminal damage, and being drunk on a plane
'I feared for the safety of me and my wife, I had no place to go, he was drunk, and his behaviour was unpredictable.
'He made several comments which I felt were racist. The comments were targeted at us as we were both visibly Muslim.'
Ruaa Kamaran, defending, said Coutts, who is currently staying at a private mental health hospital in Marylebone, is being treated for alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
Ms Kamaran said: 'Doctors noted he didn't get the help he needed. He struggled with his mental health for some time.'
The court heard that Coutts has a job offer waiting for him in Saudi Arabia and frequently travels overseas to visit his wife and two sons, who live in Cairo.
'Obviously that has been put on hold due to these proceedings,' Ms Kamaran added.
Judge Mohammed Bashir told Coutts: 'This is serious offending on board an aircraft. You were seriously intoxicated and drunk beyond control.
'You committed an assault, you caused criminal damage, and then racially abused two passengers on the aircraft.
'There is, however, substantial personal mitigation I have seen. This was a very marked departure from your previous good character.'
He sentenced the academic to 16 months' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.
Judge Bashir also ordered Coutts to pay £150 in compensation for the 'mental stress and anxiety' caused to Ms Hashim, £150 to Mr Aziz and £400 compensation for his phone.
He was also fined £1,000 for being drunk on board a plane, £350 for criminal damage and a victim surcharge of £154, totalling £2,204.
Coutts admitted two counts of racially aggravated harassment, common assault, criminal damage, and being drunk on a plane.
He is listed online as a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology and a Senior Research Fellow at Magdalene College, but is understood not to have lectured at Cambridge since 2022.
The Daily Mail contacted Mr Coutts for comment.