A Cobham woman and her friend hid inside plane toilets, smoked, swore in front of children and were so aggressive towards the air crew they forced a New Year's Eve flight to make an emergency landing.

Serena Meade, of Lakeside Drive, Cobham, and Karen Wildman, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, had both been drinking before boarding the plane on December 31, 2012, for a holiday in Tunisia.

Meade, 44, and Wildman, 51, celebrated the start of their holiday with antics that disrupted the flight, such as drinking from a bottle of Malibu and lighting a cigarette.

The captain diverted the plane to Lyon and had the two removed, delaying the flight for four hours and costing British Airways more than £4,500.

Both women were handed a jail sentence of eight months at Lewes Crown Court last month, after Meade admitted acting in a destructive manner on an aircraft and Wildman endangering the safety of an aircraft.

This case emerged as an appeal against the jail time was brought to London's Criminal Appeal Court, and judges cut Meade's sentence to six months.

A member of staff gave them a written warning because their behaviour was so bad, but this was ripped up.

The pair then followed the attendant into the galley, where they pushed her, and then hid in a toilet cubicle, where Meade started to smoke.

After making the emergency landing in Lyon, Meade and Wildman were handed to French police before being flown back to the UK.