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A man has been found guilty of attempting to rape a Scottish woman on an Easyjet flight.
Nicola Cristiano, 45, from Italy, moved seats to sit beside the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during the night-time journey from Naples to Edinburgh on 13 May.
After offering the woman, who the court heard was born in 1993 and is from Aberdeenshire, wine, he attempted to force her hand and head towards his exposed crotch.
Judge Alison Stirling remanded Cristiano in custody and asked for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh on 6 February.
Earlier The High Court in Edinburgh heard evidence from a fellow passenger and a member of the cabin crew.
Forensic evidence also showed there was a trace of Cristiano’s semen on the victim’s cheek.
He had claimed the woman initially consented but then changed her mind.
However, the jury found him guilty by non-unanimous verdict.
The prosecution said everything happened without consent and this was backed up by a witness sitting in the row behind.
The court heard that Cristiano then signalled for the woman to go to the toilet with him.
She said she told him she would follow him into the cubicle but when the accused went into the cubicle, she took the opportunity to tell cabin crew about what had happened to her. They then prevented him from leaving the toilet.
A member of the cabin crew said the woman was visibly distressed when she told them she had been sexually assaulted.
Cristiano admitted in evidence to having a sexual encounter with the woman.
He said: “She provoked me. She excited me.”
The judge told the jury: “This trial has been a difficult and anxious case.”
She said following the abolition of the not proven verdict in the Scottish legal system the jury was one of the first to return a verdict under the changed system.
She said: “I think you are participating in making history because today is the first day we are getting verdicts under our new system.”
