New Zealand politician stole baby's identity

A New Zealand politician resigned from his party today after admitting he stole a dead baby's identity to obtain a false passport 26 years ago.

David Garrett, 52, of the Act Party, called the identity theft a "harmless prank" when he was in his mid-twenties.

He said he got the idea from the novel Day of the Jackal but never used the passport and later destroyed it.

He told Parliament he stole a baby's identity in 1984 using details he found on the baby's gravestone. Police arrested him in 2005 while investigating two Israeli secret service agents who stole another dead New Zealand baby's identity for a passport.

Mr Garrett was released without conviction at the time.

He also admitted to an assault conviction in the South Pacific nation of Tonga in 2002 after details of that case were also leaked. "As a result of my own actions, my political career is almost certainly over," he told New Zealand's National Radio.

Act Party leader Rodney Hide said Mr Garrett's theft of the baby's identity was "outrageous" but that he deserved to stay on as he committed the crime such a long time ago.