A man from County Cork in Ireland has been jailed by magistrates after threatening police while he was drunk.

John Patrick Collins, of Meengorman, Meelin, told officers arresting him: ’My family have been putting your people in the ground for years.’

Forty-two-year-old Collins, who also had outstanding fines and hadn’t attended probation meetings relating to offences from 2013 on the island, was jailed for 26 weeks.

Prosecutor Barry Swain told the court how, on June 9 at 7.25pm, TT Senior Race Day, police were called to the Sulby Glen Hotel after a report of a man suspected of drink-driving.

A witness reported seeing Collins driving a Citroen Dispatch van erratically. He was spoken to by police but was said to have been argumentative.

He was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst unfit and was put in a police van, but his behaviour escalated so badly that police began recording his comments.

Collins launched a tirade of abuse telling police: ’I’ll ride you tonight. Once you let me go I’ll get all my family to come over. My family have been putting your people in the ground for years.’

He refused to take a breathalyser test at police headquarters and was interviewed the next day.

Collins told police that he only had an Isle of Man provisional licence. He also admitted to having been disqualified in Scotland, adding that he knew the disqualification also applied on the island. He confessed that he had drunk around seven pints before driving the van and knew that he was over the limit.

Collins said that he could not remember his comments in the police van but that he knew he had a problem with alcohol.

The court heard that Collins had been handed a probation order in 2013 for common assault and provoking behaviour, after an incident involving a woman in Ballakermeen Close, but had failed to attend probation meetings.

Fines for driving offences in 2010 and for being drunk and disorderly in 2013 had also not been paid.

Defence advocate Paul Glover said: ’When I read his comments to the police to him he asked me to stop as he was so embarrassed. ’He wants to apologise for any distress he caused. He left the island in 2013 but comes back five or six times a year and is a regular visitor for TT.’

Collins was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail for failing to provide a breath sample, driving while disqualified and threatening behaviour on June 9 and resentenced to 12 weeks’ jail for the assault and provoking behaviour which he had previously been given the probation order for.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years with an order to retake his test and attend a drink-drive rehabilitation course.