A motorist who committed his ninth driving while disqualified offence during a visit to the island has been jailed.

Serial offender Arya Askari, also known as Asim Dawood, had barely driven off the Manxman ferry last month when he was stopped by police after concerns were raised by crew members.

At the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Friday, Deemster Graeme Cook branded Askari’s driving record as ‘one of the most appalling driving records I have ever seen’.

Prosecutor Hazel Carroon told the court Askari, 27, was seen drinking and ‘intoxicated’ while on the ferry on February 11and then went down and drove an Alpha Romeo car off when it docked at 5.40am.

But the police were alerted by crew members and Askari, who lives in the UK, was stopped in the departing area of the terminal before he even made it onto a public road.

Askari was arrested and taken to police headquarters where he gave two breath samples which were over the legal limit for driving. He was later charged with drink driving and driving while disqualified.

The court heard how Askari has a shocking record for driving offences which includes eight other offences of driving while disqualified and five related to drink driving.

Defence advocate Kaitlyn Shimmin told the court her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had only travelled a very short distance before being stopped.

She said Askari had only come to the island for a holiday and had been here once before.

She said that if Deemster Graeme Cook was minded to, Askari was able to pay a large fine and could leave the Isle of Man the same day. She said this would mean the taxpayer would not be paying for Askari to sit here in jail.

However, Deemster Cook told the court that he was in no mind to deliver anything other than a custodial sentence.

He told Askari: ‘You have one of the most appalling driving records I have ever seen.’

Such was Askari’s terrible record, Deemster Cook too the unusual step of not giving him full credit for his early guilty pleas giving him a discount of just 15% rather than the usual third.

Deemster Cook told Askari: ‘You have a patent disregard for the court orders you have received.

‘I’m not satisfied as to the reasons why you were on the island in the first place. You were not working here, have no family here. You said you were on a trip but you won’t be coming back for a number of years after your sentence.’

Askari was handed a ten-month jail sentence for driving while disqualified and a further five months to run consecutively for drink driving – meaning he was jailed for a total of 15 months.

He was also banned from driving for five years and also given a exclusion order which means he cannot return to the Isle of Man for at least five years.