A plane that was travelling from Rome to Chicago was forced to divert to Belfast after a passenger became enraged over nuts and crackers.

A court heard yesterday that the United Airlines flight had to land at the airport on Saturday, dumping 50,000 litres of fuel.

US citizen Jeremiah Mathias Thede was arrested and appeared before magistrates on Monday.

He was charged with endangering the safety of the plane, the BBC said.

He was also accused of being disorderly and assaulting one of the cabin crew.

Thede reportedly got to his feet while the seatbelt sign was still on, and refused to return to his seat until he was given nuts and crackers.

He got up again 10 minutes later and then shouted and was abusive, and the cabin crew member felt threatened and alerted the captain as they were getting close to the Atlantic Ocean.

The court heard that Thede squared up to the cabin crew, blocked aisles, lifted bags in and out of the overheard lockers.

The captain then took the decision to divert to Belfast due to his erratic behavior.

The airline estimates compensation costs could be up to £350,000.

Thede claimed there was a conspiracy against him and that he was being picked on.