A fisherman from Ballaugh has pleaded guilty to causing more than £12,000 worth of damage to a government boat.

Alan William Kermode, of Main Road, Ballaugh, pleaded guilty before magistrates on Friday.

The 71-year-old admitted damaging a inshore flotation boat belonging to the Department of Environment Food and Agriculture.

Staff at DEFA had placed a CCTV camera near the boat, which was on a trailer in St John’s, after items had gone missing from it.

On February 21, they observed Kermode walk up to the boat and using a blade, cut into the tubing of the rib which caused it to deflate.

When arrested he told officers he had not used a blade but had rubbed a piece of wood on it and it was already deflated.

However, when the matter came to court, defence advocate Dawn Jones said her client accepted the prosecution’s facts relating to the damage.

Magistrates adjourned the case to allow for probation report to be compiled for Kermode and he is due to be sentenced on Thursday, August 6.

A separate charge of theft was withdrawn by the prosecution after no evidence was offered.