Mental health nurse cleared after row with airport staff over routine bag search

A mental health nurse who faced jail and career ruin after she became embroiled in a furious row with airport officials over a routine bag search has been cleared of wrongdoing.

Heidi Mullis was charged with assault and using threatening behaviour after claims she used the F-word and tied her hair back ''as if ready to fight'' when she and her family were stopped at passport control.

The 32-year-old who was pregnant at the time, had been on holiday with her partner and their four children in Bali.

They were scrambling to get back as Britain was due to go into the first lockdown in March 2020.

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Although she feared her youngest child might be displaying Covid symptoms, an argument broke out when Border Force officers at Manchester Airport insisted all their baggage be searched.

The family were eventually allowed on their way before the child was rushed by ambulance to hospital.

However, Ms Mullis, who works in the intensive care unit at a psychiatric hospital, was later quizzed by police.

She was initially charged with assaulting an emergency worker - a charge which fetches a maximum 12 month in jail - and a public order offence.

Ms Mullis, of School Lane, Woolton, Liverpool, faced six different court hearings, including an appearance in front of a crown court judge, before the charges were reduced to one of disorderly conduct.

At Tameside Magistrates Court this week, Ms Mullis was cleared after her lawyer accused prosecutors of mounting a ''bogus'' case against her which he dismissed as a ''joke.''

She lost her unborn baby following the incident, the court heard.

The bust up happened on March 24, 2020, as Ms Mullis and her family landed at Terminal