Court case stress 'cut short my wife's life'

Construction engineer Matt Neale, 36, has been dragged through the Baltic country's courts several times after he was accused of attacking a police officer during a stag outing in the capital Riga in 2008.

Despite insisting he was the victim of an assault by the officer – and being cleared of the crime twice – he was ordered to return after prosecutors appealed.

He has now been convicted of the lesser charge of resisting arrest and was fined 5,500, but intends to appeal.

Mr Neale revealed he has spent 10,000 on four journeys to Latvia for court appearances including flights and hotel bills, and has lost a further 10,000 in earnings.

He claims he has been made a scapegoat for the Latvian authorities looking to clamp down on misbehaving stag groups – and added he believes the stress of the proceedings worsened wife Charelle's breast cancer.

She was diagnosed in March and the devoted pair wed in September after her condition was found to be terminal. Tragically, they had just three weeks together as husband and wife before she died on October 1.

Speaking after the case, he said: "They are using me as an example. Never at any point have they offered any evidence of this alleged assault in court and I've been found innocent twice.

"We had been kicked out of this bar for being too loud, and someone must have called police as we were leaving. This officer just grabbed hold of me from behind out of nowhere and slammed me onto the floor, bruising my back.

"There is CCTV available which proves beyond all doubt that I didn't do a thing and neither did anyone I was with. I was the one left injured, but they had to prosecute one of us to cover the policeman's back."

He spent 10 weeks in jail awaiting trial and is convinced the worry over the court battle played a part in his wife's tragic death.

Mr Neale, of York, added: "When I was in jail they took away two months of my time with Charelle.

"I'm still sure the worry and stress of this court case made her even more ill and worsened her cancer."