Couple accused in 2013 plot to plant bombs at B.C. Legislature sue police

John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, who were the subject of a lengthy RCMP terror investigation in 2013, are suing several members of the investigation team, the federal prosecutors in their case, and the governments of Canada and British Columbia.

The lawsuit was filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.

Nuttall and Korody, who were recent converts to Islam at the time, went along with undercover investigators over months as they came up with plans to carry out terror attacks. Eventually, they settled on targeting the B.C. Legislature during the 2013 Canada Day celebrations.

Surveillance footage released during their trial showed the couple making pressure-cooker bombs in a hotel room in Delta, B.C., and then planting the devices at the legislature before the festivities got underway.

The bombs didn't detonate.

In their lawsuit, the pair claim the investigation was a "travesty of justice," echoing the language of the B.C. Court of Appeal decision in their case, which upheld a B.C. Supreme Court finding that police had entrapped Nuttall and Korody.

Despite a jury finding the two guilty of terror charges, the proceedings were stayed, and no verdict of guilty was entered.

In their lawsuit, Nuttall and Korody claim that as a consequence of the misconduct of the defendants, they suffered serious harm, including imprisonment, emotional distress, psychiatric injuries and damage to their reputations.

The lawsuit claims federal prosecutors Peter Eccles and Sharon Steele "acted with malice in the form of a deliberate and improper use of the office of the Crown."

The couple is seeking charter, general, special and punitive damages, along with costs and interest, though no amounts are included in the statement of claim. Charter damages are awarded as compensation for breach of a plaintiff's charter rights and to deter state agents from future breaches.

"They say there wouldn't have been any sort of plot if it weren't for the actions of the RCMP, and they say the RCMP violated their rights," said Nathan Muirhead, a lawyer representing the couple.

"John and Amanda were unjustly kept behind bars for more than three years. They say during the course of their trial, their physical and mental health both suffered. They were kept separate from each other, and the stigma from this case is something that is going to follow them for the rest of their lives."

None of the defendants has filed a response to the lawsuit.

Listen | CBC podcast examines the strange case of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody: