A NORTH-EAST tourist jailed in Australia for threatening to hijack an aircraft is launching a second appeal against his sentence.

Thomas John Lilico, a 21-year-old student from Darlington, was jailed on January 2 for three months - two of which were suspended - after admitting making a threatening and false statement.

He was also ordered to pay £110 as a 12-month good behaviour bond.

A special sitting of the Queensland Court of Appeal, the state's highest appeal court, will be convened next Tuesday so lawyers can again argue for his release.

The tourist's lawyers filed an affidavit yesterday arguing that his sentence was manifestly excessive.

Lilico, who was on a working holiday in Australia, produced an aerosol from his hand luggage and sprayed the cabin of a Qantas Airways flight before it left Cairns for the northern city of Darwin, on January 1.

An airline attendant also heard him threaten to use a knife to hijack the plane.

Lilico told federal police he did not remember making the remark, and had drunk eight pints of beer in the six hours before boarding the plane.

During Lilico's sentencing in Cairns Magistrates' Court, the prosecution and defence lawyers both told the court a fine was an acceptable sentence.

But magistrate Ken Lynn disagreed. He said he wanted to make an example of Lilico because people making threats on board aircraft needed to be held accountable in the world climate.

On Wednesday, Lilico failed in a bid in Brisbane's District Court to overturn the sentence.