American security official lets man with gun board flight to London
A man with a loaded gun was allowed to board a flight from Phoenix, Arizona, en route to London Heathrow.
The passenger, who, it later emerged, has a criminal record, was picked up when trying to board a connecting flight to Paris, reports the Daily Telegraph.
His weapon was missed by a TSA security official in America, who also missed another passenger's flick-knife on a different flight on the same day (22 June).
William Joseph Richardson, 34, was going through screening at Heathrow Airport to a board a BA flight to Paris when his loaded Glock handgun was discovered.
London Special Police confiscated the firearm and took Richardson in for questioning.
Seven hours later, Heathrow airport security disvored a knife on another passenger who had arrived on a different flight from Phoenix.
A TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein told Fox News: "TSA employs multiple layers of security to protect the travelling public.
"On board aircraft, these layers include reinforced cockpit doors, Federal Air Marshals, armed pilots and a vigilant public, as well as many others, both seen and unseen."
The TSA official responsible for the security breaches has lost his job.
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