A homeless man who travelled to the island on the ferry and was then found drunk in a doorway has been given a 12-month conditional discharge.

Ryan Wesley Dean was seen begging on Douglas promenade earlier in the day.

However, his defence advocate Stephen Wood said that his client had £100 available to pay any fine, though he also needed funds to leave the island.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes ordered Dean to pay prosecution costs of £50 forthwith or face six days in prison in default of payment.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson told the court that Dean, who is 39, was seen outside Cafe Villa on Douglas promenade on April 4 in the afternoon.

He was begging for cash from members of the public and was spoken to by police, who advised him to leave the area.

Dean told officers he had arrived on the boat and was of no fixed abode.

The police took him to the homeless accommodation Graih and dropped him off there.

However, at 5.40pm, a member of the public called the police and reported that there was a man sleeping in a doorway at Cafe Villa.

When the cops arrived Dean wasn’t there, but empty cans of lager were found.

He was later found at 6.55pm in a sleeping bag in a doorway at Christopher’s Dry Cleaners on Queen’s Promenade.

He was said to be smelling of alcohol, slurring his words, and unsteady on his feet, with an open bottle of wine nearby.

Dean also had an A4-sized sign he had been using for begging and a holdall.

As he was arrested he said: ‘I’m not exactly drunk.’

In court he pleaded guilty to being found drunk in a public place.

Mr Robinson said that Dean had a lengthy record, but as the offence was relatively minor he would not ask for an exclusion order banning him from the island.

Defence advocate Mr Wood said: ‘Mr Dean tells me he has been sleeping outside for the last six years, travelling around the UK.

‘He says he has been to the Isle of Wight and Dublin and had recently been to Lancaster where his mother lives.

‘He then went to Morecambe where he decided to pop across and come and visit us.’

Mr Wood said that Dean was unemployed and had extremely limited means, but did have £100 on his person.

The advocate asked the court to leave his client enough funds to be able to return to the UK and said that he had spent a night in the cells for a non-imprisonable offence.

High Bailiff Mrs Hughes told Dean: ‘You were begging in the streets yesterday afternoon and given the opportunity to use Graih facilities but declined.

‘It seems you travel around the UK. You’re not to come to the Isle of Man living in this sort of way. Any further offences may result in an exclusion order.

‘I very strongly advise you to leave the Isle of Man as soon as you can.’