Banker John Rea wins Privy Council ruling on illegal police searches in Cayman

The Privy Council in London has rejected an appeal by Detective Inspector Brian Gibbs, the Commissioner of the Royal Cayman Islands Police and the Attorney General against a damages award of US$770,000 made in favour of former bank manager John Rea for an illegal search of his home and his office in 1991.The ruling on January 29, 1998 brings to an end a long, embarrassing and costly saga for the Cayman authorities in which they were found to have maliciously obtained and executed two search warrants against Rea in October, 1991.