A mix up over stolen Egyptian artefacts led to a retired Gillingham couple being thrown into police cells on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

Anthony and Pauline Griffin, of Rowland Close, were told by immigration officers that there was an international warrant out for their arrest.

They were taken to a police station, told they couldn’t make any phone calls, and placed in separate cells already occupied by criminals.

Mr Griffin, a former police officer, said there were six other men, including a murderer and a rapist in his cell which measured 10ft square. Mrs Griffin was locked in a smaller cell with two other women.

Neither of the cells had toilet facilities and both were infested with cockroaches and rats.

After two days the couple were deported back to England. They arrived in Manchester to be told by officials that they were free to go and they had done nothing wrong.

Now Mr and Mrs Griffin are angry that their £3,500 holiday has been ruined unnecessarily. “We’ve been to Egypt twice,” he said. “But all we brought back was a cheap souvenir with Nefertiti’s head on it.

“The treatment we received was diabolical. I was frightened to death and my wife was shaking with fear.”

It appears that the international warrant in fact related to a completely different man, some of whose details matched those of Mr Griffin.

Now the couple want the St Lucian Government to compensate them for the loss of their holiday.