EVER since Dancing on Ice made its debut on ITV in 2006, hapless celebrity amateurs have attempted elegant figure skating with various degrees of success.

Every year celebrity contestants seem to skid into trouble, splitting their costumes and injuring themselves on the ice.

Rex Features

ITV

In the dance off Pammy’s boobs fell out of her dress as she stumbled[/caption]

This Sunday, Dancing On Ice is due to crown its seventeenth winner, with Michaela Strachen favourite to take the crown.

But almost every series has been plagued with embarrassing moments – from wardrobe malfunctions to shocking falls.

Here we look at the cringe-making moments that kept us glued to the ITV show.

Pammy’s flash dance

Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson was voted off Dancing On Ice in 2013 after suffering an excruciating wardrobe malfunction.

During the dance-off with her professional partner Matt Evers, the actress’ tight dress failed to contain her ample cleavage.

She was one of the biggest celebs to ever compete in the show when she signed onto compete in the eighth series of the competition.

Despite a decent score from the judges, she failed to impress the viewers at home with her skating ability, as she found herself in bottom two in the first week.

However, her second performance did not go to plan as she stumbled into a major malfunction when her dress fell off, and it was game over.

Fortunately the wardrobe team was prepared for disaster and Pamela, 57, was wearing matching white and silver nipple covers under her frock to protect her modesty.

It was just as well since her right breast almost completely escaped from the tight dress during the performance.

Joey’s awkward snog

ITV

Joey Essex and Vanessa Bauer appeared to confirm their relationship with a snog[/caption]

Rex

Towie star Joey Essex shocked TV audiences in 2023 when he leaned in for a toe-curling attempt at a smooch with dance partner Vanessa Bauer at the end of their performance.

The pair had been linked together off screen too, but never confirmed or denied their real life romance.

Joey, 34, appeared to confirm what was going on behind the scenes as he attempted to plant a kiss on her lips.

But Vanessa laughed and leaned away uncomfortably at the last second.

The GC hits the floor

Rex Features

The GC hit the deck after losing her grip on Matt Evers in 2019[/caption]

Rex Features

Series 11 did not go well for Gemma[/caption]

ITV

Gemma also got into a furious row with head judge Jason Gardiner[/caption]

Towie fans rejoiced when Gemma Collins signed up for the eleventh series of the show in 2019.

But amid rumours of her diva-like backstage behaviour that year, Gemma also had a furious bust up with judge Jason Gardiner and 83 angry viewers complained to Ofcom when the TOWIE star accused the judge of being ‘a bully’.

What had started as a dream, turned into a nightmare for the reality TV star as rumours swirled surrounding her behaviour off set, thanks to comments made by judge Jason Gardiner.

On the week that Gemma performed an underwhelming routine to Diamond’s Are A Girl’s Best Friend, Jason gave her blistering criticism afterwards.

But Gemma did not take his comments lying down, as the pair came to blows when the reality star accused the choreographer of “selling stories” to the press about her.

She went on to blame him for her lack of confidence on the ice too.

When Jason tried to fight back, she completely dismissed the judge as she loudly exclaimed: “Boring … Next,” starting a shouting match which left the hosts, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, forced to step in.

The following week, Gemma, 44, gave it her all as she tried to up her game for a more graceful skate to Celine Dion’s romantic ballad, It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.

However, she was left devastated as she slipped and fell to the ice in the most dramatic way, leaving her motionless on the ground for a split second.

Rex

Bum deal

Last year, former Brookside actress Claire Sweeney, 53, was left red-faced after she fell and gave skating veterans Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean an eyeful of her bum.

Following the super awkward incident she recalled: “I’m trying to be cool.

“I get in the dressing room and I’m hyperventilating and then I catch myself in the mirror and my leggings are ripped from the top of my bum to the bottom.

“I’d been skating around with my bum hanging out! Literally my bum hanging out.

“I just thought I’ve got to own this.”

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Claire Sweeney’s leggings had an embarrassing hole in the bum[/caption]

Rex

Claire Sweeney and partner Colin Grafton styled it out in Series 16[/caption]

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Actress Claire was mortified when she flashed her bum at the judges[/caption]

All on his Todd

Former EastEnders star Todd Carty was branded the John Sergeant of Dancing on Ice after he bungled his routine as badly as the veteran news reporter had done during his notorious stint on Strictly Come Dancing.

EastEnders actor Todd had an unforgettable run during the fourth series in 2009.

His first two routines failed to impress the judges, but it was during week three when he lost total control.

The former Grange Hill star stumbled and then, in a panic, completely slid out of vision away from the cameras into the backstage area.

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Todd Carty’s accidental crash left Susie Lipanova on her own[/caption]

ITV

Todd Carty had no idea how to stop[/caption]

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Todd was a contestant in 2014[/caption]

After Todd, 61, spun out of control, he quickly realised he had no idea how to stop himself.

The actor skidded off stage down a tunnel and left his professional partner, Susie Lipanova to finish the routine alone on the ice.

Eventually, the actor made it back into the rink for the final pose as the dance was just coming to an end.

By then the judges, studio audience and viewers at home were all in absolute hysterics.

Judgement day

In 2011 former Olympic skater and ex Dancing on Ice judge Karen Barber got caught up in a furious row with notoriously acid-tongued fellow judge Jason Gardiner.

The backlash that followed was so intense that Jason was almost axed from the show.

Jason lashed out at Karen, saying: “If your opinion still mattered you’d be on the panel” in a vicious spat over points given to contestant Johnson Beharry VC.

Days later Karen saved him from the chop, telling show bosses: “Don’t fire him, I just want to move on.”

Rex Features

Split decision

Singer Sinitta was the first celebrity to be voted off Dancing on Ice after a costly mistake in the skate-off in 2012.

When a complicated move called a ‘frog lift’ went wrong, the pop star ripped her skating partner Andrei Lipanov’s trousers.

As she came to the end of her routine – performed to Halo by Beyonce – the blade of her skate cut through her partner’s trousers, leaving a gaping hole in the material.

After being told she was leaving the show, a shocked Sinitta said: “I had such high hopes for this.

“I was starting to love it. I can hardly speak.”

Ken McKay

Sinitta and skating partner Andrei Lipanov in 2010[/caption]

ITV

Sinitta split her partner’s costume in an embarrassing blunder[/caption]

Seaman’s own goal

Former Arsenal FC goalkeeper David Seaman may have had a safe pair of hands as a goalkeeper but he dropped his partner on the chin during a dress rehearsal for the first series.

Then, on a subsequent live show, he dropped his replacement partner as well – and took a tumble himself in 2006.

Although he already had experience from Strictly Ice Dancing, and he ended up in fourth place, his journey was turbulent.

News Group Newspapers Ltd

David Seaman with DOI partner Pam[/caption]

During one rehearsal, he attempted the dreaded “headbanger” move, only to drop his partner Pam O’Connor face-first into the ice, where she was rushed to hospital needing stitches.

It seems that David might have been cursed during the series as he and skater, Natalia Pestova – who stood in for Pam – were sent crashing to the ground as David botched another one of their choreographed lifts.

ARROGANT scientists engineered Covid in a lab – and underestimated its danger before it leaked, the former head of America’s top health agency has claimed.

Dr Robert Redfield, 73, spent his career preparing for a catastrophic pandemic – and was “aggressively” silenced when he voiced fears Covid may have leaked from a lab in China.

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Donald Trump answering questions with Dr Robert Redfield (right) in 2020[/caption]

AFP

Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli pictured at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017 – the lab under fire over the origins of Covid[/caption]

Reuters

US President Donald Trump and Dr Robert Redfield at a White House briefing on April 22, 2020[/caption]

Speaking to The Sun for our documentary The Covid Files: Inside the Wuhan lab-leak scandal, Dr Redfield lifted the lid on the early days of the pandemic in 2020 that killed millions.

The ex-chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed how he was in the White House with Donald Trump when he called China’s president Xi Jinping.

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From his home in Maryland, the top virologist told how Don begged Xi to let the US send a team to China to probe the origins of the mystery bug sweeping the country.

Dr Redfield told us: “I went to ask President Trump if he would call the president of China, which he did. I was there in the Oval Office.

“But we never got an answer on any of our requests.”

He believes his counterpart in China “felt limited in what he could say” about the pandemic.

If Xi had allowed a team of experts into the country, Dr Redfield says the pandemic would have taken a very different path, and potentially saved lives.

Dr Redfield said: “It would have changed our entire public policy.

“If we had got in, I would have learned, probably within a week, that this virus was very human-to-human transmissible.

“I think they already knew that. They’re scientists and doctors. They knew it was highly infectious for humans.”

Five years later, the world still has no answers about the origins of the virus that has left more than seven million people dead.

The CIA, FBI and the US Department of Energy have all backed a lab leak as the most likely explanation – with many pointing the finger at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

China’s Wuhan lab has been at the centre of the storm since Covid emerged just miles from the facility – which was famous for its research on bat coronaviruses.

Many believe Covid leaked from the US-funded lab during risky virus tests.

[This] is as close to a smoking gun as you can get. This is the evidence that this was created in the laboratory

Dr Robert Redfield

Despite years of searching, a natural origin has never been found.

Dr Redfield, a former US Army officer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said Covid was “ready-made” for humans and this immediately rang alarm bells.

Scientists have repeatedly said that Covid was “exquisitely matched”, “completely pre-adapted” and “supercharged” for humans.

With the lab’s close links to Xi’s military, Dr Redfield believes the army was looking to create a vaccine that would protect the Chinese population against diseases.

It needed to be highly infectious, asymptomatic and not create long-term immunity – the same features as Covid, Dr Redfield pointed out.

But he claimed the researchers in Wuhan were “arrogant” – and they underestimated the danger of their work if it ever accidentally leaked from the lab.

Reuters

Security guards keep watch outside Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organisation[/caption]

Dr Redfield said: “They were arrogant. They didn’t see the downside.

“[It was] scientific arrogance to think that nothing could go wrong.

“This was not natural. This was orchestrated. This was a purposeful research programme.”

Just months before the mystery pneumonia-like virus emerged, the lab made a series of suspicious decisions, Dr Redfield claimed.

This included handing over control to the military, deleting the lab’s database of sequences in a “highly irregular” move, and putting out a contract for a new ventilation system.

“I think that’s when the pandemic started,” Dr Redfield said.

“People said I was speculating when I said it came from the lab.

“I wasn’t speculating. I was putting together a number of pieces of scientific evidence to come up with what I think is a rock solid hypothesis.

The Sun

The Sun’s Imogen Braddick with Dr Robert Redfield[/caption]

 “If [the intelligence] was put forward in a digestible way, I think there would be broad consensus about the origin of this virus.”

Like dozens of other scientists and experts, Dr Redfield believes Covid had “signature sequences of laboratory manipulation”.

For years, Shi Zhengli – the lead scientist at the Wuhan lab dubbed “batwoman” – manipulated viruses to make them more infectious in humans, experts claim.

And many scientists believe the answers to the origins of Covid lies in the unique make-up of the virus.

Early on, they found the genetic code for what is known as a “furin cleavage site”.

It boosts the ability of a virus to jump between species, and can make it more transmissible.

This feature could exist in nature but Covid-19 is the only one scientists have found it in so far.

As a result, many experts believe it was inserted by researchers.

Dr Redfield said: “The furin cleavage site is as close to a smoking gun as you can get.

“This is the evidence that this was created in the laboratory.

“You ask the question, ‘Why does the Covid that came from bats no longer efficiently infect bats?’

“The reason is that they changed the orientation of the binding site so that it infects humans.

“That was the virology that said this was not natural.”

The virus that came out… is pretty much the virus they describe in the research proposal. That’s the virus that would cause a pandemic all around the world

Dr Robert Redfield

American scientists had been working with the Wuhan lab for more than a decade experimenting with bat coronaviruses.

Just a year before Covid emerged, US researchers applied for funding to engineer coronaviruses in China.

The 2018 proposal – called DEFUSE – reveals how scientists planned to engineer a virus that has a striking similarity to the genetic make-up of Covid.

The grant proposal was ultimately rejected by the US government.

However, engineering experiments could have been carried out regardless with other funding.

Dr Redfield said: “There are lots of sources of funding outside of the US government that could have been used.

“Most of us don’t write grants that we don’t already have data to know that it’s going to work.

“The virus that came out… is pretty much the virus they describe in the research proposal.

“That’s the virus that would cause a pandemic all around the world.”

AFP

The Wuhan lab has been at the centre of the lab leak theory since Covid emerged just miles from the facility[/caption]

Getty

LOVE Island’s Grace Jackson and Luca Bish have shut down their split rumours by revealing that they had taken the next step in their relationship.

The All Stars runners-up recently came under fire from fans who claimed the pair are “faking their romance”.

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Love Island’s Grace and Luca have been plagued by split rumours[/caption]

Instagram/capitalofficial

The couple have now shown they have taken the next step in their romance[/caption]

Instagram/capitalofficial

Luca revealed he had been to meet Grace’s parents[/caption]

Rex

The couple came second on Love Island All Stars[/caption]

The couple came second in the Love Island: All Stars final and have been by each other’s side ever since.

However, fans have still speculated the romance is “all for the cameras”.

But now Grace and Luca have tried to put those rumours to bed when they appeared on Capital Radio.

In a clip from the show they revealed that Luca had been to meet Grace’s parents.

In the short video he talked about how he wanted to impress them.

Taking this big step in their romance shows that the couple are moving forward in their relationship.

SPLIT RUMOURS

The couple’s split rumours started this week when they reunited with some of their villa co-stars at a swanky rooftop bar.

In the clip, Grace cosied up to Luca on a sofa and he stuck out his tongue, but fans were quick to pick up on a strange energy between them.

“Pretending,” one fan bluntly commented.

Another added: “Grace and Luca, what’s happening? Looks like they are faking it for the camera now.”

A third chimed in: “So OTT.”

However, others stepped in and backed the couple, who stuck by each other in the villa after being tested by bombshell Samie Elishi.

One more said: “And you got that from a 2 second clip of her posing for the camera?”

Another chimed: “So why have they been together literally every day since they both came out?”

It comes after Luca was recently hit with accusations of getting “flirty” with a TikToker.

The former fishmonger, 25, raised eyebrows when fans noticed his intense eye contact with Charlotte from LevelBolton during an interview.

“Hmm I don’t like this. He likes this girl,” one fan wrote.

Another asked: “Why’s he looking at her like that?”

But others jumped to Luca’s defense.

“Luca can’t even look at a girl who’s chatting to him without being accused of something,” one viewer said.

“It’s polite to hold eye contact when speaking to someone,” added another.

Despite the backlash, Luca shut down any doubt about his feelings for Grace.

When Charlotte cheekily asked him his favourite Love Island moment, he instantly replied: “Meeting Grace. Simple.”

Grace and Luca’s whirlwind romance captured hearts on the show, and they came second to Gabby Allen and Casey O’Gorman in the All Stars final.

TikTok/@levelbolton

BOXER Darren Barker spent his 30th birthday watching Chelsea win the Champions League – and celebrated with the players afterwards.

Barker flew over to Germany in 2012 on his big day as the Blues faced Bayern Munich looking to make history.

Times Newspapers Ltd

Chelsea’s 2012 Champions League winning squad[/caption]

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Barker pictured parading his IBF middleweight title in 2013[/caption]

And the former world middleweight world champion beams as he recalls Chelsea’s dramatic penalty shootout victory.

The West Londoners became the first side from the capital to win the Champions League – and Barker spent the night with the players.

He told SunSport: “We won the Champions League on the 19th of May in Munich. I was there.

“I witnessed us winning the Champions League, the only London club to do so, and I partied with the players after because I’m Billy big b*****s!

“That will live with me forever.”

Asked if it was the best party he has been to, Barker replied with a grin: “Yeah, it was yeah it was up there.”

A year after Chelsea’s Munich heroics, Barker had his own Cinderella moment coming from behind to beat Daniel Geale to win the IBF title.

And he admitted only that victory in New Jersey and the birth of his four children can top Chelsea’s first Champions League trophy.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

Barker, now 42, said: “No, winning the world title for sure but that’s up there.

“I’ve got four children, so it’d have to be in the top six moments of my life.

“I probably better keep most of those stories to myself or watered down versions of it anyway.”

Barker – a friend of former Chelsea player Jody Morris – backs current Blues boss Enzo Maresca despite a recent dip in form and results.

He said: “Too much chopping and changing has gone on in the past. I think stick with him, I’m not impressed with the football.

“I was so impressed with PSG the other day, I text my brother saying, ‘How good are PSG?’

“The way they quickly move the ball, the touch, the flare, the individual skill and the way it all came together.

“Then you watch Chelsea and it’s like, ‘Come on lads! Flipping heck.’

“But, however, I don’t think chopping and changing is going to change anything right now – so stick with him.”

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Barker backs Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca[/caption]

DANNY Jones liked a racy pic of Maura Higgins before their ‘drunken kiss’ at a Brits after-party, it’s been revealed.

Love Island star Maura, 34, shared a sizzling snap in January in which her black bra popped out the top of her figure-hugging leopard print dress.

Maura Higgins

Danny Jones liked this pic of Maura Higgins before their apparent Brits kiss[/caption]

The Sun

The pair were filmed looking close at a fancy after-party[/caption]

She had a beaming smile on her face in the glamorous shot which was taken beside a formal table at a posh dinner party.

Maura captioned it: “Ravenous.”

Weeks later Maura, 34, and her married I’m A Celebrity co-star Danny, 38, were filmed appearing to kiss in a secluded corner at the Universal Brit Awards after-party in London.

The pair struck up a friendship during their time in the jungle last year and have kept in contact ever since.

A source told MailOnline: “Maura had kept in touch with Danny since I’m A Celeb.

“The majority of the cast have kept in contact, but Maura had been complimentary towards Danny.

“Maura is friendly with everyone but, still, Danny is married and therefore the tone could be deemed inappropriate.”

The revelation comes after the Mirror reported that the alleged kiss was a “slap in the face” to Danny’s wife, Georgia, of 10 years.

On the night of the awards she was at home with the couple’s young son Cooper, seven.

And while Danny was building his profile on ITV‘s jungle reality show, model once again remained at home coordinating a stressful house move.

A source told the Mirror that the smooch was a “slap in the face for Georgia” after she tearfully supported him just months ago while he was on I’m A Celebrity.

The insider said: “When he was in the jungle, she broke down in tears, saying her emotions had ‘come to a head’ as she juggled a house move, solo parenting and work.

“She’s been an incredible partner to him so this feels very unfair but Georgia is a strong woman, she won’t let it ruin what they have.”

We revealed how Danny and Georgia held crunch talks after the headline-making incident and are said to be keen to move on from the situation.

A source said: “This saga has been embarrassing and Danny had a lot of explaining to do.”

On Thursday Danny rubbed shoulders with Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace for a heartwarming children’s event. It was the first time he’d been seen publicly since the kiss.

The final of BBC 500 Words, a competition celebrating young writers, aired on The One Show with Danny among a host of stars invited to present awards and honour the talented children.

The I’m A Celeb star joined bandmate Tom Fletcher to present the silver award in the 5–7 age category to Michael Morley for his story Thumbed Cat.

After the ceremony, the pair treated the crowd to an acoustic rendition of their hit song It’s All About You.

Speaking on camera, Danny reflected on the event, saying: “Today has been fun.

“Having a little boy myself, the power of stories, the power of imagination.

“It is inspiring me, not just the kids, so it was an amazing day.”

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Danny and wife Georgia have held ‘crisis talks’[/caption]

Rex

Georgia travelled to Australia to greet Danny when he was crowned King of the Jungle[/caption]

BARCLAYS online banking has gone down AGAIN leaving customers struggling to transfer cash.

The major bank is currently suffering an outage with hundreds of customers logging complaints via Downdetector.

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Barclays is suffering an outage[/caption]

Over 70% say they can’t transfer funds between accounts while the remaining amount are having issues with their online and mobile banking.

Customer complaints peaked at just over 1,000 at 9.37am this morning but have fallen back to around 740.

The outage comes just weeks after the bank suffered a major outage which lasted days.

Customers have taken to X, formerly Twitter, fuming at today’s technical glitch.

One said: “Barclays is down again. I’m changing banks asap.”

Another commented: “I am SO over Barclays quite literally RUINING lives.

“Completely ruined my holiday last time not letting me access my money now the apps down AGAIN so another weekend of not being able to access my own money.”

A third fumed: “Is the Barclays app down again?! What an absolute s**t show if it is.”

Barclays has already posted on X acknowledging the outage, apologising to customers.

The bank said: “We’re having some problems making and receiving payments today – we’re sorry about this and we’re working hard to fix the issue.

“You may be unable to make a payment using our app, Online Banking or when speaking to our colleagues – payments into your account may also be delayed.

“All other services are working as normal.”

Barclays customers looking to see if their banking services are working can visit status.uk.barclays.

The Sun has contacted Barclays for comment.

Second Barclays outage in weeks

Today’s outage comes just over a month after Barclays suffered widespread technical issues with thousands affected.

Some customers were left without access to key services for three days, with the outage starting on payday for many.

Barclays confirmed that, during the incident, more than half of attempts to make an online payment failed.

Earlier this week, Barclays said it could pay out up to £12.5million in compensation to customers affected by outages over the last two years.

The announcement came after new data published by the Treasury Committee revealed there have been more than 33 days’ worth of unplanned tech and system outages in the last two years for nine of the UK’s biggest banks and building societies.

Barclays had the highest number of outages (33, totalling 93 hours), while NatWest had the longest downtime (194 hours, across 13 outages).

Scott Dawson, chief executive officer of payments processor DECTA, said the recurring nature of banking app outages highlighted the “critical lack of resilience in our financial infrastructure”.

He added: “Beyond mere inconvenience, these failures disrupt essential payments, impacting livelihoods and business operations.

“The inability to pay staff or purchase necessities creates genuine hardship.”

Can I claim compensation for an outage?

Banks don’t have to pay out compensation to customers if there’s been an outage or if they’ve experienced technical issues.

But you might be entitled to some money back depending on how much the disruption affected you as a consumer.

To make a claim, you have to present evidence of how the outage negatively affected you, including any extra costs incurred.

This might be because you were charged for making a late payment for example.

You should make a note of when you were unable to access the services and also the names of the people you spoke to at the company who suffered the outage.

You can usually find out more details about how to complain to your bank on its website.

If your bank doesn’t resolve your complaint, you can take your case up with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

It is an independent body which will resolve any issues based on what it thinks is “fair and reasonable” depending on the circumstances of the case.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

A TWISTED United Airlines flight attendant secretly filmed underage girls in air plane bathrooms by taping his phone to the seat.

Estes Carter Thompson III has pleaded guilty to child exploitation after being caught taping his iPhone to a toilet seat to secretly record a 14-year-old girl on a flight in 2023.

Lynchburg Jail

American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson, 37, pleaded guilty to child sexual exploitation and possession of child pornography charges[/caption]

AP

The iPhone taped to the back of a toilet seat on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston in September 2023[/caption]

An investigation revealed that he had repeatedly filmed girls, one as young as seven.

He duped victims into thinking the toilet seat was broken as he hid his phone under maintenance stickers to film them.

The 37-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, who faces up to 20 years behind bars, appeared in court on Thursday after the covert recordings and slew of sick AI child porn videos were found by cops.

Secret bathroom clips of girls ages 7, 9, 11, and 14 were located in his iCloud account and were all filmed on United Airline flights in 2023.

Investigators also unveiled a stash of AI-generated child pornography.

Shocking images show how the perverted flight attendant pretended the toilet seats were broken with warning stickers that he used to secure the phone to the underside of the seat’s lid.

One picture shows the iPhone’s torch light shining next to the camera from the bottom of the “seat broken” sticker.

Prosecutors in Boston detailed how Thompson was eventually caught out in September 2023 on a flight destined for the city.

He escorted the 14-year-old to the bathroom in First Class when the main cabin one was occupied and asked the teen if he could enter first to wash his hands.

The flight attendant then casually told her that the toilet seat was “broken”.

But she quickly noticed Thompson’s poor attempt to conceal the phone behind red maintenance stickers and took photographs before returning to her seat to show her parents.

Prosecutors said her father confronted Thompson who then proceeded to cower in the bathroom, locking himself in and restore his phone to factory settings.

His colleagues had also been informed by the parents and the captain contacted law enforcement on the ground to be ready when the flight landed at Boston’s Logan Airport.

After launching an investigation into the creep, cops found more maintenance stickers in his suitcase and unveiled the trove of pornographic videos and other secret recordings on his iCloud.

The footage included the covert clips of four other underage girls and 50 pictures of an unaccompanied nine-year-old taken while she slept in her seat.

Prosecutors told the court on Thursday: “All minor victims involved in this matter have been identified and their families have been contacted by law enforcement.”

LOCKED UP

Thompson pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.

Such offences could get up respective sentences of 30 and 20 years behind bars.

However, after securing a plea deal, it is likely he will get between 15 and 20 years in jail for his crimes, according to The Boston Globe.

Thompson’s federal public defender, Scott Lauer told the outlet: “I expect the defense will seek a 15-year sentence.”

The twisted flight attendant may also be forced to pay $250,000 in damages.

Meanwhile the families of two of the victims have filed lawsuits against the airline for failing to protect passengers from their employees.

The 14-year-old’s family has accused United Airlines of negligence after it failed to take Thompson’s phone after it was discovered – a move they say will have stopped him from deleting evidence.

The relatives of the nine-year-old victim who was recorded in January 2023 has also sued the airline.

United Airlines first tried to blame the girl for using a toilet “she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”

The airline has since apologised for the response and axed the legal team that issued the comments.

Last May, the company told The New York Post: “We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously.”

Paul Llewellyn, whose law firm Lewis & Llewellyn represented the 14-year-old girl and another victim said: “We are pleased to hear the American Airlines flight attendant who preyed on at least five young girls as they used the airplane bathroom has pled guilty for his depraved crimes.

“We commend the US Attorney’s Office for its work on the criminal case in bringing this felon to justice.”

Thompson will be sentenced on June 17.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to United Airlines for comment.

AP

American Airlines praised the work of the US Attorney’s Office for bringing justice to the victims of is employee[/caption]

Central Coast's bid to defend their A-League Men title has suffered another devastating blow, with the Mariners losing 3-0 to Melbourne Victory.

Hilton Cartwright has struck an unbeaten ton and Cameron Bancroft is 85 not out as WA took the honours on day three of their Sheffield Shield clash with NSW.

The NSW Waratahs have scored a 34-10 Super Rugby Pacific victory over the Western Force to open a season with three straight wins for the first time since 2009.