Ex-girlfriend of Jet Ski lockdown Romeo avoids jail despite kicking cop in the head

The ex-girlfriend of a man who rode a jet-ski across the Irish Sea to see her during Covid-19 lockdown has narrowly avoided jail after kicking an officer in the head

The ex-girlfriend of a man dubbed “jet-ski Romeo” has been spared jail for kicking a police officer in the head.

Jessica Radcliffe, 32, was previously in a relationship with romantic Dale McLaughlan, who shot to fame during lockdown in 2020, after he jet-skied to the Isle of Man from Scotland to see her.

McLaughlan, from North Ayrshire, admitted arriving unlawfully on the island and was later jailed for four weeks.

Radcliffe, who pleaded guilty, has since split up with McLaughlan who she once revealed she planned to marry.

During the incident, which happened when officers visited her house in Douglas, Isle of Man, she he had to be restrained using Pava spray after struggling with the police officers as they tried to put her in a police van, the Scottish Daily Express reports.

She then spat in one officer’s face and kicked another.

Prosecuting advocate Hazel Carroon told the court that police went to Radcliffe’s home on April 24 on an unrelated matter which was not pursued.

She was in the garden at the time and as she was arrested she pushed one officer.

Radcliffe was put in handcuffs and taken to a police van but then became aggressive, refusing to get in the van and pushing an officer again.

She was said to be shouting and swearing as she used her legs to block the van door being closed, which resulted in her being Pava sprayed to restrain her.

Radcliffe kicked out at one officer, catching him in the face, then spat in the face of another officer and dug her nails into his arm, swore, and made an imaginative threat that we have decided not to repeat here.

During an interview at police headquarters, Radcliffe said that police had been hurting her arms and she kept asking them to get off her, but then said she lost her temper.

She denied any assaults and said she had just sat on the van bumper as she wanted a minute to calm down. Radcliffe said that, since going to prison, she had an issue with people touching her arms.

She told police: “I’m the one that’s been assaulted. Have you seen my arms?”

In court, she pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of obstructing police, and one of threatening behaviour.

Defence advocate Louise Cooil handed in letters of reference for her client as well as a letter from Radcliffe herself, and urged the court to follow the recommendation of a probation report, for a suspended sentence supervision order.

Ms Cooil said that all the April offences had stemmed from the same circumstances, when police had attended Radcliffe’s address to arrest her for matters which came to nothing. Radcliffe claimed that this had arisen because of a malicious complaint made about her.

She also said her client suffered from anxiety and a doctor had indicated a potential post-traumatic stress diagnosis. The advocate said that the kick in the face had been reckless rather than deliberate.

Deputy High Bailiff James Brooks told Radcliffe: “I hope the work you undertake with probation will ensure an offence-free life in the future, but ultimately that’s not their job, that’s your job.”

On July 20 he sentenced Radcliffe to six months in custody, suspended for two years and ordered her to pay £250 costs and £250 compensation to each of the two officers.

Radcliffe was also fined £200 for a separate offence of being drunk and disorderly, committed while she was on bail for the police assaults, and banned from licensed premises for six months.