JUST what was David Norris thinking when he made his “handcuffs” gesture when he scored Ipswich’s winner at Blackpool on Saturday?

So he feels sorry for his old Plymouth team-mate, Luke McCormick, who is serving seven years and four months in prison for causing the deaths of Arron Peak, 10, and his brother Ben, eight, in a car accident when he was under the influence of alcohol earlier this year after attending Norris’s wedding at the Reebok Stadium. But what a shameful case of misplaced loyalty.

The real sympathy belongs with the Manchester family of the two young boys killed in that motorway tragedy.

The boys’ mother, Amanda Peak, described Norris’s gesture as an “insult” to her sons’ memory and called for the former Wanderers’ midfielder to be banned by his club.

The Football Association have asked Norris for an explanation and Ipswich have, understandably, fined him for his “insensitivity” and promised to make a donation to charity.

Norris in turn has written a letter of “regret” to the boys’ parents but didn’t do himself any favours with his explanation at the weekend.

“It wasn’t a handcuff sign,” he said. “It was a private message but I can see why people have seen it like that.

“I apologise if anyone was offended by it. Luke is a friend who made a massive mistake and he is paying for that.”

There are times when “sorry” is just not good enough.

People make mistakes and they must accept the consequences of their actions, as David Norris should know only too well considering where his friend is now.

At 27, he is old enough and should be wise enough to know that actions have consequences and not caused so much heartache in the first place.

If he wanted to get a “private” message to McCormick he should have delivered it on a visit to the prison and not at a Championship football ground.