A New Zealand lawmaker who admitted stealing a dead toddler's identity to obtain a fake passport resigned from parliament Thursday, saying his position was untenable.
David Garrett's departure was widely expected after he revealed last week that he acquired the passport in 1984 using a method detailed in the thriller novel "The Day of the Jackal".
Garrett took personal details from the gravestone of a two-year-old boy and used them to obtain a birth certificate, which he then included in a passport application, along with a photograph of himself wearing a disguise.
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The case sparked outrage in New Zealand and prompted headlines such as "Day of the Jackass".
Garrett, who stood down from the conservative ACT party last week, said he was resigning from parliament "as a result of my own foolish actions 26 years ago".
Garrett, a barrister before entering parliament on a zero tolerance law and order platform, said he was arrested in 2005 and discharged without conviction after admitting in court that he obtained a passport under false pretences.
He revealed the passport stunt to parliament last week after realising media were investigating his past, saying that at the time he regarded it as a "harmless prank" and was curious about whether it could be done.
