A visiting welder jailed for breaching Covid-19 rules has led to a lockdown at the prison after testing positive for the virus.

He was one of a group of five employed by Yorkshire-based Haigh Rail who had been given exemption certificates to visit the island to carry out repairs to the Manx Electric Railway.

They arrived on the Ben-my-Chree last Tuesday but instead of going straight to their hotel as required, they went toTesco to buy items including alcohol and sausage rolls.

A member of the public reported the men to Tesco staff after asking one of the men about his mask and being told: ’I’ve just got off the boat.’

The five appeared before magistrates on Thursday when they were each jailed for 14 days.

All inmates at the prison at risk of having Covid, including those jailed for coronavirus breaches, are routinely tested for the virus. The Examiner has been able to confirm that it was one of the five welders who tested positive, leading to the prison going into lockdown on Saturday. They were asymptomatic when tested.

All five will be required to continue to self-isolate at accommodation provided for them in the island following their release from prison this week. Visiting at the prison has been temporarily suspended.

All new prisoners are housed in a separate wing for 14 days before joining the wider prison population.

They are confined to the cells on F-wing except to take a shower and have exercise.

The Covid-positive welder had been kept in self-isolation since his arrest and the government’s contact tracing team says the risk to the wider community from this case is extremely low.

Luke Kevin Fletcher, aged 22, of Arundel Street, Doncaster, Jack Michael Anthony Smith, aged 18, of Haigh Crescent, Doncaster, Robbie Rhodes, aged 18, also of Haigh Crescent, Michael Stewart Smith, aged 43, also of Haigh Crescent, and Christopher Leroy Lafayette, aged 62, of Tranmoor Court, Doncaster, all pleaded guilty to failing to comply with Covid-19 restrictions under the Emergency Powers Act.

The story has received coverage across the UK. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, one relative said: ’They’re in jail and yet the politicians break the rules and get away with it. They still don’t know what they’ve done wrong.

’The regulations are mind-boggling.’

The supervisor who had travelled over with the group had advised them not to enter the supermarket.

Head of welding Michael Downing, speaking back at Haigh Rail’s base in Doncaster, told the Examiner: ’I’ve had nothing official that any one of the group has tested positive. Nothing has been confirmed. Nobody has said anything.’

He said he had been in touch with one of the welders on Saturday and they were all distraught by what had happened. He said the party had been due to return to the UK yesterday (Monday).

’They are traumatised, as I am. To think they’ve now got criminal records, they’ve been put in an institution. It beggars belief,’ he said.

Mr Downing added: ’An error was made. There was no malice in what anybody did. We didn’t want to bring worry to the people of the island.’

He said they were aware of the rules as they were in July when the company was last over in the island.

But he said the reality of the situation only dawned when he found out about the key workers from Wales who were handed a suspended sentence for failing to isolate when they arrived in the Isle of Man and the woman who was jailed for visiting a petrol station on her way back home to Ramsey after visiting the UK.

Mr Downing said: ’My guys come from an environment where they wear masks at all times.’ He also raised doubts over the government’s decision to issue key worker exemptions to the men.

When asked whether the work they were doing was really essential given that the MER was coming to the end of its season, he replied: ’We should not have been there.’

And he added: ’Why did they put us up in hotel on the Promenade? There was nowhere to park, we have two big vehicles.

’They could have put us up at Glen Mona out of the way and near where we were working.’

Under a red lockdown regime at the prison all visiting is suspended with the exception of advocates.

There is no mixing of inmates in the different wings.

As the Examiner went to press, there were four active Covid cases in the island, with no community transmission.

Two new cases were confirmed yesterday (Monday) Both are returning island residents who tested positive after developing symptoms during self-isolation.

They remain in self-isolation and are the only members of their household. Contact tracing is under way.

A new case of Covid confirmed on Friday was detected after a test on a visitor who became symptomatic during their self-isolation. The individual had been allowed to visit on compassionate grounds.