LAWYER IN THE NEWS

Who? Anthony Patrick Keogh, 70-year-old founder of his own Muswell Hill, north London firm, A Patrick Keogh, which concentrates on criminal work.Why is he in the news? Acts for three women charged with drunken disorderly behaviour in the skies.

They were part of a group of 12 Irish passengers who were travelling to Montego Bay when the pilot diverted the plane to Norfolk, Virginia, and left them there because he believed that to continue with them on board might be dangerous.

Two of the women were acquitted last week.Background: Following national service in the RAF in 1950, completed an intermediate law course (including five years' articles with Sir Graham Page MP) in 1958, and passed his law finals in 1959.

Began working with now-defunct London firm Grover Humphries & Boyes as a civil litigator.

Set up on his own in 1961 to focus more on criminal work.Route to the case: He has acted for what he describes as 'Irish travellers' legal problems for many years because: 'They are a community among whom my name gets handed around; they all seem to know each other some way or another.' Thoughts on the case: 'The group were excited to be going on holiday; they were noisily yapping away, and then they broke into Irish songs, and We're all going on a summer holiday by Cliff Richard.

Some people didn't like it.

The captain dropped them in Virginia where they were interrogated by the state police and also by the FBI, who took no action against them.

An action by the tour company led to the prosecutions.'Dealing with the media: 'I advised my clients to keep quiet until the case was all over.

Journalists can ask some very awkward questions and there is a danger your client might put their foot in it.

One guy kept ringing me from an Irish news agency - I just told him to wait until the verdict.

Interestingly, jurors were asked whether they had seen a Channel 4 documentary - The Real Airtours Air Rage story - last February, before selection.

Jeremy Fleming