British Airways pilot used his position to abuse hundreds of vulnerable children in African schools and orphanages, the Daily Mail can reveal.
First Officer Simon Wood, 54, claimed he was carrying out charity work for the airline while molesting scores of young girls during his stopovers in Africa.
Dressed in a bogus captain’s uniform, he would use the airline’s good name – and even BA branded toys and colouring books – to lure children out on day trips and to five-star hotels used by the airline, where he would abuse them.
British Airways is now facing a hugely damaging lawsuit brought by his victims, who say the company failed to protect them from his horrific abuse.
After abusing children for 15 years, the £100,000-a-year pilot was finally stopped when he was charged with separate child sex offences in the UK.
Days after appearing in a court in London last month charged with the offences, Wood threw himself under a train.
Prosecutor Peter Zinner said: ‘The prosecution say that Mr Wood was a deeply depraved and corrupt individual who had used his ability to fly to other parts of the world to commit sexual offences against children.’
Officials in Kenya have identified at least 15 children, all believed to be girls aged five to 11, that Wood abused – and say they fear there are hundreds more.
As British Airways launched an international investigation into the ‘shocking’ claims, questions were asked over why the pilot – who was arrested after indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 2000 – was ever allowed to work near children.’
Prosecution sources said they feared the pilot could prove to have been among Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.
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