A PONTYPOOL couple were awarded £20,250 compensation after a judge found they were unlawfully arrested by Gwent Police back in 2008.

A hearing at Cardiff County Court was told officers arrested pensioners Jean and William Quigley on May 8, 2008, because they suspected they had stolen a tractor, a compressor and a horse box. The couple told the Free Press an armed police officer arrived at their Talywain farm claiming a tracer device fitted to stolen equipment was showing up on their land.

The officer carried out a number of police checks on machinery and said one of the items - a compressor box - showed up on the database as being stolen.

Mrs Quigley, 68, was then handcuffed and arrested on suspicion of theft at around 4.40pm and taken to Pontypool Police Station where she was placed in a cell.

Mr Quigley, 73, who was not at the farm at the time, was arrested two hours later and detained at the police station.

Doberman breeder Mrs Quigley claims she was interviewed once by police, despite being told she needed to stay for more questioning, and was only allowed home accompanied by officers to feed her dogs.

The pair were released on bail around 3.30pm the next day - over 20 hours after their arrests.

Six weeks later they were told no further action would be taken against them.

The jury found in favour of Gwent Police on all matters relating to the arrest, agreeing that police had grounds to arrest the couple and that Mr Quigley was told why he was being arrested. But Judge Patrick Curran ruled the arrest was still unlawful because it was not 'necessary' under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

The jury awarded £10,500 compensation to Mrs Quigley, £9,000 to her husband and £750 to cover the cost of damaged property.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Quigley said she was relieved it was all over. She said: "It was the most traumatic experience of my life. I had never been in a police cell or been through anything like this until then.

"They have never ever apologised that they got it wrong. I would not have taken it this far if they had apologised."

A spokeswoman for Gwent Police said: "We note the courts decision today and following the outcome, we will now reflect on the findings. It would be inappropriate to comment any further at this stage."