A British diplomat went berserk after a drinking binge on his flight home from tsunami aid work in Thailand, a court heard today.

Colonel Peter Roberts, the British defence attaché in Thailand, hurled obscene abuse at other passengers in business class, threatened to kill cabin staff, grabbed at women, and struggled free of the plastic ties binding his wrists and ankles to subdue him, it was alleged.

He was arrested when his flight landed at Heathrow and then tried to punch and kick police officers, Isleworth Crown Court in London heard.

As fellow passengers and cabin staff tried to restrain him during the Etihad Airways flight, Roberts was said to have shouted obscenities and demanded: "Do you know who I am? I’m the head of the British Government in Thailand and you’re treating me like this."

Colonel Roberts had boarded flight EY303 from Abu Dhabi on February 17 last year and was due to give a presentation on the tsunami when he got back, the court heard. He denied a charge of being drunk on an aircraft. The court heard he had been taking the antidepressant drug seroxat, which should not be taken with alcohol.

Gareth Rees, QC, prosecuting, said that Colonel Roberts had been drinking wine on his previous connecting flight from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi, and whisky in the airport. Once aboard the London-bound plane he had drunk two or three of the small bottles of wine served by airlines, followed by three Black Label whiskies and some port.

Kevin McGuire, who sat next to him, said he was initially pleasant. "It soon became obvious he was an important man in a very important position. He said he would soon be making a presentation about the recent tsunami in Asia.

"He showed me some pictures from his folder about the tsunami which I found quite disturbing. For lunch he had drunk a couple of bottles of wine, some port and some whisky but continued to be politely sociable."

Later, Roberts started grabbing the arms of passing cabin crew and asking for more whisky, Mr McGuire said, and he seemed to become more inebriated. Soon he began getting up and talking to other passengers and crew.

"He told me he had been speaking to an African woman and was a bit concerned because he thought she might be important and married to a king and her son a prince. He thought he might have said something unfortunate," said Mr McGuire.

"He began rocking back and forth as if in a rage and was also crying. Then he fell asleep but people were looking."

Later he started mumbling and swearing and then got up and grabbed the African woman and swore at her.

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