The case of a man arrested by mistake in Belfast and taken to Scotland may end up in the House of Lords. Last month the North's Appeal Court reversed a judge's decision and awarded Mr Terence McGrath £1,500 for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment.
Mr McGrath (29), of Distillery Street, Belfast, was arrested in 1991 on a Scottish warrant for motoring offences. It was only after he was taken to Stranraer, Scotland, that it emerged a former school-mate had given his personal details. The chief constables of the RUC and the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary want to appeal the compensation ruling.
Mr Nicholas Hanna QC told three Appeal Court judges in Belfast yesterday that if their decision was to stand it would be practically impossible for a police officer to know that he was correctly executing a warrant. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, said they accepted the case raised difficult points of law but refused to grant leave to appeal to the Lords.
It will now be up to lawyers for the two chief constables to make a written application to the law lords.