Emiliano Sala: David Henderson sentenced for organising flight

The man who organised the flight which killed footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

David Henderson, 67, of Hotham, East Riding of Yorkshire, was found guilty last month of recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft.

He also admitted to a charge of trying to arrange a flight for a passenger without permission or authorisation.

Sala and Mr Ibbotson died in January 2019 in a crash in the English Channel.

The judge, Mr Justice Foxton said Henderson had shown "a cavalier attitude" and had not kept even the most basic records.

He added that Henderson had intentionally breached Civil Aviation Authority regulations "for reason of profit", and was "reckless, not merely negligent".

The Argentine striker had completed a £15m transfer from Nantes to Cardiff City and was travelling between the two cities at the time of the crash.

The charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft related to two flights, an outward flight from Cardiff to Nantes on 19 January and the return flight, which crashed near Alderney, on 21 January.

The trial heard Mr Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle, Lincolnshire, regularly flew for Henderson, but he did not have a commercial licence for carrying passengers, nor did he have the correct certification to fly at night and his rating to fly the aircraft used - a single-engine Piper Malibu - had expired.

Henderson was supposed to fly the plane, but was on holiday with his wife in Paris, so asked Mr Ibbotson to do the journey.

Just moments after finding out the plane had gone down, Henderson texted a number of people telling them to stay silent, warning it would "open a can of worms", the jury was told.

The trial also heard how the owner of the plane had told Henderson not to allow Mr Ibbotson to fly the aircraft again after he committed two airspace infringements while piloting it.

Sala's body was found about two-and-a-half weeks after the crash, though Mr Ibbotson's body has never been recovered.