Neil Gaiman has apologised to “everyone on the island” of Skye after he was spoken to by local police for travelling more than 11,000 miles from New Zealand to his home there, in breach of Scotland’s lockdown rules.
Gaiman, the author of the Sandman comics, Coraline and American Gods, left New Zealand at the start of May, writing on his blog that he and his wife Amanda Palmer had “found ourselves in a rough place” and “needed to give each other some space, which had been in very short supply in lockdown in New Zealand”. He departed when the country moved into “level three” of its lockdown, and flew “masked and gloved” to London before driving to Skye.
But Scottish lockdown rules allow only essential journeys, and on Monday Police Scotland inspector Linda Allan said that the author had been visited by officers, who had spoken to him about his actions.