Love Island star Zara Holland steps out without a face mask after breaching Covid rules in Barbados

She recently returned to the UK after paying a £4,500 fine in Barbados for trying to flee the country despite her boyfriend testing positive for Covid.

And Zara Holland appeared to be getting back to business as she helped out at her family’s workplace in Hull on Wednesday.

The Love Island star, 25, stepped out without a face mask as she carried boxes from the building and took a selection of hoodies inside. 

Zara looked busy as she ran in and out of the distribution centre for her shop Mimi Boutique while cutting a casual figure in grey leggings and a sweatshirt.

The former Miss Great Britain, who returned home to the UK last week, went make-up free and tied her blonde locks back into a messy ponytail as she worked.

At one point the former reality star was seen rushing back inside with a coffee cup in hand as well as moving merchandise around on another run.

Government guidelines say that face masks should be worn at storage distribution centres, as well as factories, plants and warehouses. 

Zara, who was not donning a mask, told The Sun: ‘Only my mum and I work part-time in that part of the building. Anyone else seen entering or leaving is nothing to do with the boutique. It is not open to the public.’ 

While an onlooker said: ‘Surely after what she has just been through in Barbados she would make sure she was wearing her mask at every opportunity.’ 

Zara and her partner Elliot Love, 30, were arrested at the island’s airport and faced a jail sentence of up to a year, before both being let off with fines.

The reality TV personality has since been reunited with her partner, after he returned to the UK this week after paying his own fine and testing negative for Covid.  

Zara was believed to have returned home without him last week, when she was seen sat alone before boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight to Manchester at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Meanwhile, Love was forced to stay in the island’s mosquito-ridden Paragon Isolation Centre until he was clear of the virus and had to pay a heavy fine to the country.

Following the offence Love managed to escape jail and received a reduced fine after his lawyer argued he was a ‘simple guy’, who owned a small demolition company and worked for £450-a week.

Love was fined £1,400 less than his famous girlfriend – despite him being prepared to get on a packed holiday jet while infected with the virus.

Zara was ordered to pay a heftier fine before fleeing the country due to her compliance in the offence, despite not testing positive herself.

She then jetted back to Britain, just hours after she was ordered to pay her fine or go to jail for nine months for breaching the island’s tough Covid rules. 

One fellow traveller said: ‘She was sitting well away from everyone else and trying to keep a very low profile. To say she looked sheepish is an understatement.

‘We were shocked to see her because we know her boyfriend is still being detained while he battles Covid. I’m amazed she’s left him behind.’

Love had to test negative twice for the virus over the space of five days before he was allowed out of the military base which has been turned into a Covid quarantine centre.

Holland, of North Ferriby, East Yorks, could have been jailed for up to a year but the magistrate instead imposed the fine, which many on social media condemned as a let off. The fine was paid immediately by her lawyer meaning she was free to leave. 

A guest who had been staying at the luxury Hilton hotel, where Holland holed up after her arrest, spotted the former beauty queen scurrying out of the £350-a-night hotel several hours after she left court.

Andrew Pilgrim QC, Holland’s lawyer, told MailOnline: ‘Zara left Barbados last night. The fine has been paid and she was free to go.’

While a family friend added: ‘Zara has gone home. She left last night by plane.’

At court, the shaken TV star had blamed her actions on a ‘foolish error’ and breathed a sigh of relief when she escaped with a fine of £4,417 [B$12,000].

She had pleaded guilty to leaving the Sugar Bay hotel on December 29 while she was under quarantine.

Chief magistrate Ian Weekes admonished her for breaking the nation’s tough rules that have prevented the holiday island being overrun by the virus.

‘We cannot tolerate that you breached the quarantine protocol, he said. ‘You had been told to stay at your hotel and you should have done that.’

Mr Pilgrim blamed her ‘lapse’ on a ‘foolish error,’ telling the court she had two negative tests and became extremely nervous about her and Love’s status in Barbados, which is why she decided to try and leave the island.

Love had already tested positive for Covid when the pair bought return flights to the UK.

Mr Pilgrim told the court Holland was involved in a lot of charity work in the UK, including helping children with cancer, and also helped with transportation for people in need.

He said she had the utmost respect for the people of Barbados and had been holidaying on the island twice a year for the last six years.

Holland remained silent when she left court but stood beside Mr Pilgrim as he spoke on her behalf.

He said: ‘We accepted the decision of the court. Miss Holland wants to express her sincere apologies to the entire nation of Barbados.’  

Love tested positive for Covid after arriving on the island last Sunday.

The couple were given red wristbands and told to remain in their room at the £300-a-night Sugar Bay until they were taken to a quarantine centre on the north of the island.

Instead, they booked would have been a British Airways flight back to the UK packed with fellow British holiday makers, cut off their wristbands and took a taxi to the airport where, according to a local source, their names raised some red flags with airport officials because of their short turnaround time in the country.

They were arrested as they made their way to departures after surveillance cameras captured the pair entering public bathrooms and exiting wearing different clothing. 

Last week Jamaican tourist Dean George Scott, 49, admitted in court to leaving quarantine to ‘buy Fanta’ and other snacks after arriving on the holiday island at the beginning of December. He was jailed for six months.