The 34-year-old livestreamed his own embarrassing take-down to his 33k TikTok followers
And of course the 34-year-old – who’s a frequent flyer at Laganside Courthouse – livestreamed his own embarrassing take-down to his 33k TikTok followers.
In fact he was the reason Belfast International Airport was left with just one cop on duty for much of Tuesday, as was reported on Friday.
A whistleblower reported how Burns’ drunken escapade took officers away from their normal duties and meant there was nobody else to respond to an incident had another one occurred.
On Monday night the ex-soldier, who has more than 110 convictions for arson and violent attacks, went on a boozy bender around Belfast.
He filmed himself making threats to people unfortunate enough to cross his path, including some Northern Ireland fans trying to watch the match against Germany in a south Belfast pub who just asked him not to film them.
Seemingly drinking through the night, Burns eventually took himself to Belfast International Airport where he landed in trouble with airport cops on Tuesday morning having allegedly assaulted a member of airport staff at the departure gate where he was due to fly to Britain.
Slurring his speech, he’s confronted by police officers in the café at the airport where he’s eating a sausage bap and is told by an officer they have to remove him from departures as he no longer has a ticket for a flight and they want to speak to him about an alleged assault at the gate.
As he’s being escorted from the airport he tells one officer, “I’ll knock the clean f**k out of you,” and then tells the same officer, “The next time you push me I’m putting the head in you”.
The patient airport cops try their best to politely get him out of the airport, telling him he’s free to leave, but boozed-up Burns can’t leave it there.
The airport cop in the livestream
After shaking their hands he thanks them sarcastically for “keeping the country safe” and then tells them they have “potential” but then adds, “potential for being a w***er”.
At that point one cop says “that’s enough” and Burns is swiftly put to the ground where he lies for a couple of minutes as the officers handcuff him and place him under arrest.
Released after a number of hours, Burns is facing a number of public order and assault allegations and police have 28 days to bring him to court.
Once again he took to TikTok to try and monetise his disgraceful behaviour and then the next day he made his usual apology video where he explained he wasn’t perfect and was now “going on the straight and narrow”, blaming his behaviour on him not taking his medication.
But sources who know Burns told the Sunday World they’re worried Burns will do someone real damage before he’s stopped.
“James Burns is a ticking time-bomb because he’s extremely violent, takes copious amounts of illegal drugs and drinks all the time,” said the former pal.
“Look at his videos from the weekend where he flew to Manchester and turned up at the door of another TikToker he’s been rowing with and making repeated threats to.
“That guy had to call the cops and all Burnsy was concerned with was getting it up online so he could prove the other guy called the police on him and how he refused to come out of his house to face him!”
A spokesperson for Belfast International Airport told the Sunday World: “Airport Police arrested a passenger for abusive and disruptive behaviour at approx 7am on Tuesday 14 October. He has been charged and released on conditional bail.
“Abusive and disruptive behaviour against our passengers and staff will not be tolerated at the airport. We have been working closely with the PSNI and other stakeholders on a disruptive passenger campaign to ensure that all passengers can travel through the airport with confidence.
“This initiative is aimed at preventing disruptive behaviour and promoting passenger safety. We would like to remind passengers that drunk and disorderly behaviour could result in a cancelled trip, flight divert or arrest.”
It’s understood Burns is on police bail and is banned from the International Airport and is also not allowed to be drunk in a public place or in licensed premises.
We can reveal he already has another case pending in respect of allegedly breaching a restraining order during another drink-fuelled night.
Previously we have revealed how Burns – who earlier this year was in court after he walked into a hospital while off his face on cocaine with a hammer “in case he was attacked by Muslims” – had been making thousands of pounds from live TikTok battles.
He has been building up a following on TikTok and has been making a significant sum of cash with his live videos where he often does head-to-head battles in search of cash gifts.
He even used previous articles about him in the Sunday World as props in his videos to boost his support.
He was allowed to continue making big sums of cash on a daily basis when he was detained under the mental health act after he was arrested in London.
Hammer thug and serial domestic abuser James Burns
News in 90 Seconds, Wednesday, October 22
He earned more than €5,700 in just two weeks from making TikTok videos – from the hospital in south London.
And on one single day three weeks ago he earned more than £1,700 from livestreamed TikTok battles.
“The TikTok account has made him worse because he knows it’s the drama that makes the most money – so he’s out there stirring up trouble all the time,” said the former pal.
“What’s it going to take before the authorities take serious action against him? In his videos he doesn’t think twice about threatening to beat up police officers so he would have no issue starting on some poor member of the public who crossed him.”
Burns – until he was caught ‘tooled-up’ in the Royal Victoria Hospital – had been a lead protester outside business premises connected to Jonny Smyth, the man currently in jail in Spain waiting to see if he will face charges in connection with the murder of Belfast man John George.
Burns was seen at a number of protests campaigning for the return of Mr George who was murdered in Alicante in December but whose body was not recovered until January. Burns is flagged as being high risk by the authorities in Northern Ireland because of his propensity to use violence.
Previously he has assaulted multiple cops who tried to arrest him – headbutting one.
And once when he was arrested he threatened to cut off the head of his partner and leave it on her parents’ doorstep if she revoked his bail address.
With his former army training, the fact he was a boxer and also because he’s partial to drink and drugs which previous courts have said make him even more volatile, cops have to send back-up if they want to lift him.
Burns, who lives in Melrose Street in Belfast but previously with an address in Mallusk, pleaded guilty to the hospital hammer incident and was sentenced on March 21 to four months in jail for the hammer and one month for the cocaine and prescription drugs.
He has been in and out of prison for serious offending including arson, rioting and a series of domestic abuse convictions.
He has told courts before how he served with the commandos in Afghanistan and was “significantly traumatised by the events he witnessed there”.
In January 2023, a police officer told Ballymena Magistrates Court Burns had been “flagged as a serial perpetrator of domestic violence”.
A restraining order was imposed after he set fire to two cars owned by his ex and her mother. In 2015 Burns was jailed for St Patrick’s Day attacks on police and smashing his mother’s car.
The thug headbutted one of five officers it took to restrain him after they were called to his family home in Newtownabbey.