Police in Northern Ireland have lost an appeal against being ordered to pay £5,000 compensation to a widow who was wrongly arrested for shoplifting.
A High Court judge backed a previous ruling that Helen Curlett was entitled to the award for being detained at home and taken into custody.
Mrs Curlett, from Ballyclare, County Antrim, was released without charge.
Lawyers for the police had argued that awarding damages would restrain their ability to arrest crime suspects.
However, the judge rejected the challenge, saying that officers had failed to consider alternative options such as asking Mrs Curlett to attend voluntarily for interview.
'Nightmare'
Mrs Curlett, who has a clear record, took a case for wrongful arrest and unlawful detention
She had been arrested in February last year, three months after designer goods were stolen from a shop at Victoria Square.
Police had linked her on the basis of CCTV footage of her on a shopping trip.
She was detained and held for several hours at Musgrave Street PSNI Station where fingerprints, photographs and DNA samples were taken, before being released without charge.
Mrs Curlett's lawyer said she had endured a "nightmare" experience.
"She was arrested and interviewed without any basis, and then put through the ordeal of two court cases," he said.
"The PSNI should acknowledge what they did wrong and apologise to my client."
