Foreign Affairs

Man Jet Skis Nearly Five Hours To Visit His Girlfriend Across Irish Sea, Jailed For Violating Coronavirus Rules

No featured image available

A Scottish man was arrested and sentenced for violating coronavirus restrictions after he jet skied to an island off Scotland’s coast to visit his girlfriend.

Dale Mclaughlan, 28, was sentenced to four weeks in jail on the Isle of Man Monday for flouting the island’s strict coronavirus-related travel restrictions, according to The New York Times. He purchased a Jet Ski and the next day proceeded to drive the watercraft for four and a half hours to the island from Scotland.

Mclaughlan told authorities he expected the trip to take 40 minutes, but it took longer due to the fact that he had never used a Jet Ski before and bad weather on the Irish Sea, The Times reported. When he finally landed on the island, he walked 15 miles to his girlfriend’s home and the couple spent the weekend enjoying the Isle of Man’s nightlife.

“This individual was aware of the law and showed a flagrant disregard when they chose to break it, mixing in the community and potentially putting lives at risk,” Isle of Man Chief Minister Howard Quayle said in a statement on Tuesday, according to the Times.

Absolute legend of a Scotsman crosses Irish Sea to see girlfriend and gets jailed…on a JET SKI HE BOUGHT FOR THIS SOLE PURPOSE. He also got covid tested before his trip and legally tried to apply several times. Someone snapped a photo of him landing. Isle of Man = snitches den pic.twitter.com/9gUWLFFECD

— The Penguin Official (@ThePenguinOffi1) December 15, 2020

Mclaughlan was charged with arriving to the island without permission, failing to declare himself and not quarantining, Quayle said, according to The Times.

The man said he had sought official permission to visit his girlfriend multiple times and had been denied each time, according to BBC. Mclaughlan had met his girlfriend after he was granted permission to travel to the island for his roofing job.

The judge who sentenced Mclaughlan, called the plan a “deliberate and intentional attempt to circumnavigate” coronavirus restrictions and said he had put himself at “very real risk” of harm, BBC reported.

The Isle of Man has implemented very strict restrictions on travel to prevent a potential coronavirus outbreak, according to BBC. Only nonresidents with special permission are granted entry onto the island.

Scotland has reported 108,438 coronavirus-related total cases and 4,173 deaths, the country’s government tweeted Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Isle of Man has reported 373 total cases and 25 deaths, but both figures have been near zero since the spring, according to Reuters.