Patrick Grigor (24) and David Sneath (25), both Daniel Place, admitted that, on May 20, at a hangar at Dundee Airport, Riverside Drive, they entered the restricted zone of an aerodrome and maliciously discharged a fire extinguisher over five aircraft, covering them in an noxious substance and rendering the aircraft unsafe to operate.

They further admitted entering two other aircraft without authority and interfering with the controls whereby they were unsafe to operate until safety checks had been carried out.

One of the solicitors for the men today said that on a more serious note, there were surely questions to be asked about the security at Dundee Airport.

Previously the court heard the airport has statutory warning signs on the perimeter fence, indicating it is a restricted zone. Staff finished their shift at 5.15 pm on May 19 and all was in order.

Around 4 am on Wednesday May 20, a security officer on foot patrol heard a door opening as he walked past the catering centre. He saw both accused within the grounds of the airport, looking into the cockpit of a plane.

Police were called and they found both accused on the runway close to several two-seater planes. Sneath admitted he had been in a plane and on being asked how he had entered it, said he had simply pulled down the lever and then opened the handle. Questioned further, he said that he had been in two more planes.

Police checked one plane and found its door was open, that a panel had been ripped away from the dashboard, the rear cockpit area had been tampered with and the fire extinguisher had been removed from its holder and was lying at the rear of the cockpit.

Grigor and Sneath were taken to Police HQ and when officers attempted to interview Grigor, who was covered from head to foot in white powder, the contents of a fire extinguisher, he was so inebriated he could only say he did not know where he was or what he had been doing.

Sneath told police he and his co-accused had had a lot to drink and had been walking along Riverside, but could not remember how they had got on to the airfield. He said he had entered two or three planes.

The court heard the cost of the incident had been £8400, which comprised loss of revenue for planes and for cleaning and checks.

The court heard today that the pair had been on a night out and they both worked as delivery drivers. Solicitor Mike Creegan said Grigor had been very drunk and was also coping with a broken relationship.

He acknowledged the seriousness of the incident and that the police could have thought there was a terrorist element to it. However, finding his client straddling an aircraft in a pink cowboy hat and dark glasses while covered from head to toe in white foam and clearly drunk, they could swiftly be assured it was a drunken escapade.

He said Grigor had lost his job as a result of this, but was now working hard on two jobs.

Solicitor John Boyle, for Sneath, said his client had little recollection of events. He could not recall how he got into the airport and the agent admitted this did raise questions about airport security, given how easily the two men got in. Sneath also was working at two jobs.

Sheriff George Way felt the best way forward was to defer sentence on both men for a year for them to be of good behaviour.

He added that over the next year they should make significant inroads into paying a significant contribution towards the cost of the incident.

He told the pair that if they made sufficient effort they could anticipate being dealt with leniently. The case was continued until February 22, 2011.

As they left the court, Patrick Grigor and David Sneath insisted they’d been “drunk idiots” who’d inexplicably ended up in the “wrong place” (writes James Williamson).

They stressed there’d been “no malice” in their actions and raised their own questions over how two shambling drunks could have gained access to the airport compound — let alone the aircraft themselves.

Contrite and embarrassed, the pair told the Tele they had been “all over Dundee” with then coworkers from Pizza Hut as part of a staff night out last May.

They’d left Dundee University student union in the early hours — but had no idea how they had ended up at the airport and had no recollection of being there.

“We’re not the sort of people that go out to cause damage — you need to have a plan to go out and do that,” said Sneath. “We’d been at a nightclub across from our house and must have gone for a random drunk walk, looking for a party or something.”

He said the friends had had no cause to be anywhere near Riverside because they stay in the West End’s Daniel Place.

“There was no malice involved, that’s for sure,” stressed Grigor.

The pair were relieved at the outcome of their court appearance.

“It gives us a chance to pay the money back,” said Grigor.

“We both work two jobs, pay taxes, and we’re willing to pay for the damage.”

They added that — after the initial, earlyhours alert had been dealt with — they did not believe police had considered them as terrorist suspects.

But they raised their own questions over airport security.

“We must have been there for quite some time to let off a fire extinguisher and clamber all over two or three planes,” said Sneath. The day we got interviewed by the police, I think, by that time, they realised it was just drunk idiots who ended up in the wrong place.”

Grigor said his family had “kind of imploded” because of the tension the case had caused — though he added that some were sticking by him.

“Our mates understand it was just us being drunk,” he added.

“They have stuck the front page of the Tele (from the previous court appearance) on the wall at work.”

Airport operator Highlands and Islands Airports Limited was contacted by the Tele this afternoon over the concerns raised in court today about security at Dundee Airport.

A spokesperson said that HIAL would be making no comment on the case.