British widow loses appeal over New Zealand arrest

A British tourist who claimed she was traumatised when New Zealand police mistook her husband for a fugitive criminal lost an appeal seeking to press her £440,000 (€666,300) claim for damages.

Margaret Fyfe and her late husband Robert had guns trained on them and were made to lie on a wet road when an elite police squad swooped on the pair as they drove to Wellington Airport for their flight back to Scotland.

Robert Fyfe had been mistaken for a dangerous armed robber and the couple were eventually released in time for their flight.

Mrs Fyfe said she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, never worked again and that the incident ruined her life.

Her husband died only weeks before their damages claim against police came to trial at New Zealand’s High Court in 2002. The High Court dismissed the claims on grounds that the police action had not breached the law.

New Zealand’s Court of Appeal agreed with that decision today. In its written ruling, the court said there was no doubt the Fyfes had suffered a terrible experience.

“Misfortune, however grave, does not necessarily equate to legal liability,” the court’s three judges wrote. “There was a regrettable mistake on the part of the police but this does not lead to liability.”

Armed robber Leslie Green was arrested in the northern city of Auckland the same day that police targeted the Fyfes in the capital, Wellington.

Mrs Fyfe, who was granted legal aid to take her case, still lives in Scotland and has not attended the court hearings.