Michael Cruickshank has conviction for threatening to kill Prime Minister quashed

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell

By RNZ

A man convicted for threatening to kill Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had his conviction quashed.

Michael Cruickshank was sentenced to 12 months in prison in March.

But today the Court of Appeal found the jury was put in doubt of the relevance of Cruickshank’s key defence: That he was so intoxicated he could not remember sending the threats and he had no intention of seeing them through.

The court ruled there had been a miscarriage.

There was also no order for a retrial and the Crown has not sought one.

Justice Simon France did not order a retrial for Cruickshank.

- RNZ