A grieving man has been fined £1,500 after assaulting three relatives at a family wake.

Guy Varley, aged 63, of Ballaquark, Douglas, punched one man splitting his lip during the fracas and caused reddening to the faces of two women.

He admitted three counts of common assault and was fined £500 for each offence.

The incident took place on April 26 after Varley was said to have consumed ’a large amount of alcohol’.

A probation report said Varley worked as a security officer in retail and had unresolved issues with his son-in-law and issues with neighbours.

Advocate Deborah Myerscough said Varley was going to see his GP regarding grief counselling.

’It appears this was a day when far too much alcohol was consumed,’ said the advocate.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes told him: ’I will treat this as a one-off. Obviously it was an emotional situation being a wake but there were no serious injuries.’