Jade Goody's mother Jackiey Budden sparked a security scare at Gatwick airport yesterday after joking that she was carrying a pig in her luggage.
The 51-year-old was strip-searched and questioned for 45 minutes after making the ill-advised quip during check-in, according to reports.
Security officers said that in the light of the current swine flu outbreak they had to take any pig-trafficking claims extremely seriously. They released her after it was determined that it was only a sick chicken and a small container of anthrax in her luggage.
The alarm was raised by a check-in staff member who asked the grandmother if she had anything dangerous in her bags, to which she replied: 'Only my pig!'
Later she came close to missing her flight to Tenerife after the captain refused to let her board the plane because her documents were not all up-to-date. It seems her Mensa membership had expired.
