JOHN Callis, the sound engineer for one of the world's biggest boy bands, Westlife, thought his life was over when he took a flight from Ireland to London.

This week he told of his terror when two men claimed there was a bomb on the aircraft.

Mr Callis, 42, who lives near Devizes with his wife Cheryl and their two-year-old daughter Milla, was coming home for Christmas after recording a Westlife seasonal special for Dublin television.

Most of the band had stayed in Ireland for Christmas and New Year but Mr Callis and two musicians checked in on the EI 158 flight to Heathrow from Dublin and boarded the plane.

He was about to take his seat at the back of the plane when the stewardess asked him if he could sit nearer the front.

He moved a few rows forward and then noticed a man of Middle Eastern appearance sat in the row behind him, flanked by police officers.

The man called over a stewardess and said he wanted to speak to the pilot. He told the woman in a loud voice there was a bomb on the plane and he wanted to get off. "I went to the back of the plane to get away from the man and he was getting louder and saying there was a bomb on the plane and everyone was going to die," said Mr Callis.

The doors of the plane had closed and it was leaving the gate with the flight crew getting ready for take off.

The shouting had become louder and passengers were beginning to panic. The pilot headed towards the runway. The shouting carried on, said Mr Callis, and a second man of Middle Eastern appearance, also handcuffed with police guards, joined in saying there was a bomb.

The pilot tried to reassure the passengers. He explained that the two men were being deported, that police were guarding them and they were secure in the handcuffs.

At full throttle the pilot aborted the flight and pulled off the runway. He told the passengers it was impossible to make the flight with the disruption that had been caused.

The plane went back to its gate and the two men were taken back into the airport building.

Passengers were given the option to leave the flight or continue on their journeys. "I was petrified but just wanted to get home, everyone was terrified. It was a very, very quiet flight," said Mr Callis, whose family used to run The Pack Horse in Chippenham.

"It was terrifying. And all I could think about was that this was it and I would not see my wife and child again.

"Although we were told that the men were secured and there were police with them it did not make you feel any better."

He said it was disgusting that special travel arrangements were not made in this instance, especially he said because there was a rising anxiety among people travelling by plane. "I am glad I got home safely," he said .

At Heathrow's Terminal One there were scores of armed police and riot vans awaiting the flight. The message had obviously not got through that the two men were not on the flight.

A spokesman for the Garda said: "It is normal for us to use scheduled flights and it happens regularly. The men are still in custody awaiting deportation."