A British Airways purser downed champagne stolen from his flight before being arrested on suspicion of raping a stewardess, an employment tribunal heard today.

The stewardess, who cannot be named, made the allegation after she, the captain and cabin crew went drinking in a US hotel the night before their flight was due to leave for the UK.

The allegations emerged days after 14 BA workers were suspended when a TV documentary alleged they drank to excess hours before take-off.

Julian Henry, 49, of West Chiltington, near Storrington, had worked for British Airways for 32 years before the incident at the McLean Hilton Hotel, Washington, in April 1998.

After a lengthy US legal process the rape charge was dropped. Henry was given a six-month suspended sentence and a $1,000 fine after pleading "no contest" to a charge of assault and battery.

Following an internal British Airways inquiry, Henry, a married father of two, was sacked in August 1999.

Henry has brought a claim of unfair dismissal against the airline.

An employment tribunal at Croydon, Surrey, heard Henry, the stewardess, the captain and another crew member met at the hotel's hospitality suite and downed free drinks until it closed. The party then moved to Henry's room.

According to a summary of the US court judgment, read to the tribunal, the group drank champagne in Henry's room before leaving for the night.

It continued: "Some time later the victim awoke in Henry's bed. She remembers being exhausted and feeling the effects of the alcohol.

"He was next to her and he touched her without permission and she became very upset.

"The cabin services director was called and the defendant denied touching her apart from consensual touching and kissing."

Henry was arrested. Later, during the BA internal investigation, quarter bottles of champagne from the aircraft were discovered in his room.

Henry faced three charges in the inquiry. The first related to the US criminal investigation, the second to the theft of the champagne and the third to breaching company policy by giving a "damaging" interview to Carlton Television.