A love-stricken British Romeo who landed in hot water after riding a jet ski across the Irish Sea to visit his girlfriend in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic had less than 10 minutes of fuel left – and doesn’t even know how to swim, according to reports.
Scot Dale McLaughlan, 28, who has never ridden a watercraft before, spent four and a half hours on the craft in his crazy dash to visit his new girlfriend on the Isle of Man.
The North Ayrshire man was sentenced to four weeks in prison on Monday after admitting unlawfully acquired it.
“The craziest thing is that he can’t even swim,” a family source told the Daily Mail about McLaughlan, describing him as a “nice boy, but thick as a brick.”
A police source also told the Isle of Man Newspapers that the man’s jet ski had only 10 minutes of fuel left after the 25-mile journey, which he initially thought would only take 40 minutes if he faced rough weather.
And to make matters worse for the romantic adventurer, his trip also got him in trouble with his mother for missing Christmas with his two children because he will spend it behind bars, the Daily Mail reported.
But his supporters have said he deserves “a medal, not a prison” for surviving the perilous journey from the Scottish island of Whithorn, having never been on a jet ski.
He walked 15 miles to the home of his girlfriend Jessica Radcliffe in the Isle of Man’s capital, Douglas on Friday, but was arrested after being arrested during a night of drinking, according to the news report.
McLaughlan’s attorney told Douglas Courthouse that the roofer was suffering from depression because he couldn’t see his new partner, who was not mentioned in the report.
However, Deputy Senior Bailiff Christopher Arrowsmith said McLaughlan had “made a deliberate and deliberate attempt to get around border restrictions.”
Meanwhile, Radcliffe, who has two daughters of school age, has no issues with the law but has to spend Christmas in quarantine because of her boyfriend’s fateful journey.