International- A 28-year-old man from Scotland bought a jet ski and rode it 22 miles to visit his girlfriend on the Isle of Man.
- Dale McLaughlan had never ridden a jet ski before he made the intrepid trek on Friday, according to the BBC.
- When he arrived, he and his girlfriend visited two busy nightclubs, breaking
coronavirus restrictions on the island of approximately 85,000 people. - He was arrested, admitted to illegally entering the island, and was jailed for four weeks.
Dale McLaughlan, a 28-year-old from Scotland, admitted to breaking coronavirus restrictions by riding a jet ski 22 miles to the Isle of Man to visit his girlfriend, the BBC reported.
McLaughlan, who was charged with illegally entering the island and jailed for four weeks, said he had never ridden a jet ski before he made the intrepid trek on Friday, according to the BBC.
"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," Howard Quayle, the chief minister of the Isle of Man, told the New York Times in a statement.
McLaughlan's lawyer reportedly told the court that he was so upset by not being able to see his partner due to coronavirus restrictions, he took matters into his own hands.
The BBC reported McLaughlan previously had permission to enter the island legally, but lost it after he visited in September and met up with his girlfriend for a night out. He applied to return to the island for additional trips but was denied entry.
When he embarked on his journey on Friday, he thought the trip would take about 40 minutes.
The BBC reported that it actually took him about four hours to arrive on the island, and then he had to walk another 15 miles to get from the town of Ramsey to Douglas where his girlfriend lives.
The woman believed that her boyfriend has been living and working on the island for several weeks, according to the BBC.
The next day, McLaughlan told a police officer on the island that he lived at his girlfriend's address and they went to two nightclubs. He was arrested on Sunday.
"On the Isle of Man, we're all for ingenuity," Quayle's statement to the Times said. "But unfortunately, this was an incredibly reckless, dangerous endeavor, which could have ended very differently given the time of year."