Jet ski Romeo is free!
Covid rule-breaker out of jail but he’s immediately ‘deported’ from Isle of Man and can’t see lover
A ROOFER jailed for crossing the Irish Sea on a jet ski so he could give his girlfriend a Christmas present has been released from prison early.
Dale McLaughlan, 28, was allowed to travel home to Irvine, Ayrshire, yesterday – by ferry – after serving ten days of his four-week sentence on the Isle of Man.
He told of his joy at being reunited with his family for Christmas – but described not being allowed to say goodbye to partner Jessica Radcliffe, 30, as ‘bitter sweet’.
The jet ski Romeo, who has two young children, will also not be allowed to return to the island on January 11, as he had planned, due to tighter Covid-19 travel restrictions.
On the ferry from the Isle of Man yesterday, McLaughlan told Mailonline: ‘I’m overjoyed to be out. I’m just on the ferry home and I’m so happy to be coming home for Christmas.’
Healthcare worker Miss Radcliffe – who has two children, Scarlet, eight, and Sky, four – said: ‘It’s amazing he’s getting out f or Christmas and will be able to see his kids – that’s all I have ever wanted for him.
‘ But i t’s depressing f or me because I probably won’t see him until February now.
‘They didn’t let me say goodbye to him when he was released but I spoke to him on the phone.
‘Before all this happened we video-called every day, so we will keep doing that, but it’s horrible that I don’t get to see him. I’m aware we aren’t the only ones who are going through a difficult time, people are dying because of this virus, but it is a struggle that we can’t see each other.
‘I hope our story gives people hope that there are decent men out there. He’s made me feel so special. What Dale did was reckless, I can’t deny that, but nobody has ever done anything like that for me. It was such a heroic gesture.’
McLaughlan met Miss Radcliffe in September while he was working on the island. But his subsequent applications to return were rejected, prompting him to make the perilous journey – despite never having ridden a jet ski before and being unable to swim.
He bought the jet ski and made the four-and-a-half-hour voyage across choppy seas from the Isle of Whithorn, Wigtownshire, to Ramsey Harbour.
The 25-mile journey breached Covid restrictions that prevent all non-residents from entering the
Isle of Man. He was photographed arriving at Ramsey Harbour on December 11 with only minutes’ worth of fuel left, then walked 15 miles to surprise Miss Radcliffe.
The pair spent the weekend together before he was arrested.
The Isle of Man is Covid-free after closing its borders early in the pandemic and introducing strict quarantine rules.
It is believed McLaughlan was freed from Jurby Prison for logistical reasons – had he been released on Sunday as expected, a lack of transport to and from the island over the holidays would mean he would have been stuck there.
He admitted arriving unlawfully, breaching Covid-19 laws that state non-residents can only enter if they are given special permission.
In mitigation, his lawyer said McLaughlan suffered depression and was not coping with being unable to see his partner.
But Isle of Man Chief Minister Howard Quayle accused him of a ‘reckless and dangerous endeavour’ which ‘put lives at risk’.