Boy, 11, stows away on flight from Manchester to Rome with no passport

Liam slipped away from his mother at a shopping centre three miles from Manchester Airport, before successfully catching flight LS791 to Rome after a series of blunders by staff.

The schoolboy, from Newall Green, Wythenshawe, Manchester, passed through several security checkpoints before boarding the Jet2.com flight.

The captain was only alerted to his extra passenger when holidaymakers raised concerns shortly into the two hour journey.

Liam's 1,500 mile "adventure" ended on Tuesday night when he returned to Britain unharmed, and escorted by staff, and was reunited with his worried family.

Speaking yesterday, Liam said: “Getting on the plane was easier than doing my homework. I didn’t have anything on me and no one asked me for anything. They smiled at me when I went through.”

He said he had just been looking for a lavatory and kept searching until he ended up on the plane.

He told The Sun: “I went to the toilet and sat there but I couldn’t get out. Then 'whoosh’, we were going up in the sky.”

His mother Mary, 29, said she thought her son had been abducted when he slipped away from her in a shop near the airport.

Police phoned her more than four hours after he disappeared to tell her “we have found your son, he’s in Rome”, she said.

“I can’t get my head around it,” she added. “How did he get that far without anyone asking him one question? I just keep thinking how easy it would be for a terrorist, it’s unbelievable.

“All I read about is how airport security is the highest it has ever been. I’m disgusted and I want answers.”

Last night, three separate investigations were under way to establish how he was able to evade three separate security checkpoints.

At least two airport staff and three airline workers have been suspended over the security breach.

Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, said: "I take any breach of security, very, very seriously,".

"So we are now investigating with Manchester Airport and, indeed the airline, to find out exactly what happened.

"This is an unusual and serious breach and we are keen to find out what has gone on."

A Department for Transport spokesman added: "We are reviewing urgently with the airport and relevant airline how this occurred and identifying any actions needed to prevent a repetition.”

The incident comes as more than two million people arrive in Britain ahead of the Olympic Games, which open in London on Friday.

Liam’s father, Aaron Fort, 34, who is separated from Liam's mother and lives in Blackpool, said his son had “been a bit petrified by the enormity of it all”.

“If he had got off the plane as easy as he got on. Lord knows what would have happened to him wandering round Rome airport,” he said.

He said his son had been swimming earlier in the day and got into difficulties, which had caused him to panic.

He said: "The lifeguard had to throw Liam a rope to get him out. That sort of incident would have worried him. He must have got changed and given his mother the slip and then walked from the baths in Wythenshawe to the airport.

"He has never had a passport and never been abroad. When we all lived in Blackpool we would go down to the front and ride on a tram – that's about it."

Neighbours said that Liam was “quite tall for his age”.

One said: “He's a nice lad and never causes any trouble in the street although it looks like he's a bit of a handful.”

Liam was reported missing to Greater Manchester Police at lunchtime on Tuesday.

He is thought to have run away from his mother while she was shopping at Wythenshawe Civic Centre, about a mile from their home on Europe’s largest council estate.

It is unclear whether he walked to the airport or caught a bus but when he arrived he passed through security in Terminal 1 without any problems.

It is understood that Liam had followed a family when he got to the packed terminal and that security staff scanned him but failed to realise he was on his own despite having no boarding card.

He then went to one of the gates where passengers were boarding their flight and managed to get past another security check without showing a passport or a ticket.

An airport spokesman said: "He was with a large group of other children, he appeared to be in a family group – for whatever reason he wasn't checked."

It was believed that after he boarded and took a seat, crew failed to carry out an accurate headcount to make sure that the number of passengers and boarding cards matched up.

About 30 minutes into the flight, passengers became suspicious and alerted cabin crew .

The captain was then informed and radioed back to Manchester, where police told his mother that he was safe and well but on a plane heading to Italy.

The boy remained on board after landing at Rome Fiumicino Airport, and returned to Manchester on the same plane, escorted by staff, where he was met by his mother.

A Manchester Airport spokesman described it as an "extremely serious matter".

"It is clear that documentation has not been checked correctly at security and the boarding gate," he said.

"The boy went through full security screening so the safety of passengers and the aircraft was never compromised. It was our responsibility – we absolutely have to answer for that.

"This was a young lad on an adventure."

An airline spokesman said that because the aircraft was connected to an airbridge a head count was not required.

She added: "However head counts have immediately been put in place across each of our flights from all airports, including those where air bridges are in use.

"We are reviewing all of our procedures in light of this incident and three members of staff involved have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

"Passengers can rest assured that this is an isolated incident and at no time was there any safety risk."