Man remanded in custody for alleged isolation breach

Thursday 01 April 2021

A 27-year-old has been remanded in custody after arriving in Guernsey without somewhere he could self-isolate.

The Court heard that the man, who has yet to enter a formal plea, arrived in the island earlier this week. After being investigated by border agency staff, it became clear that he had come to Guernsey without an address at which to carry out his 14-day self-isolation.

Arrangements for accommodation were made by officers and a room was found. However, in his first day there, a member of staff at the hotel he was staying at reported seeing him coming down the stairs.

The police were called, a room check was carried out and he was arrested the next morning, before appearing in court via Teams. Advocate Phoebe Cobb represented him in front of Judge Graeme McKerrell, and asked for him to be released on bail.

However, due to the fact that he had nowhere to go, coupled with the hotel's management refusing to have him back, the defendant was remanded in custody to serve his self-isolation period.

"I am not going to grant bail if he doesn't have an address to go to," said Judge McKerrell. "I cannot in all conscience release him on bail if he has nowhere to go, it would put him at risk of commission of further offences."

The defendant will next appear in Court at the end of his self-isolation period.