A man found sprawled in his airline seat with a quantity of heroin down his pants was found guilty yesterday after a jury deliberated for almost three hours.

Puisne Judge Philip Storr set sentencing for 10 a.m. today after Hayward was found guilty by a majority verdict of nine-to-three.

Floyd McCoy Hayward, 45, of Friswells Hill was charged with importing 81.5 grammes of diamorphine (heroin) on a British Airways flight on April 9.

On Tuesday Hayward alleged he must have been injected with heroin by someone who wanted to make him a decoy. He denied he ever used drugs and claimed he never used a needle to inject himself with drugs.

The seven-woman, five-man jury heard evidence that Hayward was seen sprawled in his seat and how he almost died in mid-air from a drug overdose during a British Airways flight to Bermuda.

The court also heard Hayward drifted in and out of consciousness as a result of a herion overdose and had to be attended to by Clare Holt, a doctor who was on the plane.

Hayward claimed he could not recollect what happened on the flight after he drank a soda, went to the bathroom on the plane, and fell asleep in his seat.

Crown counsel Patrick Doherty asked Hayward during cross-examination about the needle tracks which were visible on his arms on April 9.

Maralyn Lloyd, an Emergency Department nurse at King Edward V11 Memorial Hospital, told the jury Hayward admitted at 11 p.m. on April 9 he used heroin and he snorted it.

Larry Packwood, a medical technician who rode in the back of the ambulance from the airport to the hospital with Hayward, said Hayward admitted to using drugs after he told him he was not a Policeman and was there to help him.

Mr. Doherty suggested to Hayward he was tempted on the flight and he had consumed some of the heroin which made him sick.

The court heard earlier Hayward's shirt sleeve was bloody, he had needle tracks in his arm, and showed symptoms of a drug overdose.

He said it may have made more sense if the defence were saying that someone slipped drugs into Hayward's drink.