A man who confessed to murdering a man he wrongly thought was a paedophile has had his conviction quashed.
Ian Lawless, 47, was jailed for life in 2002 after he said he killed retired sea captain Alf Wilkins in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
Lawless had made various "confessions" to third parties, including regulars in a pub and a taxi driver.
But fresh medical evidence said he had a "pathological need for attention" at the time and the Court of Appeal has now ruled his conviction unsafe.
It has since emerged that he suffered from a personality disorder and that his need for attention was exacerbated when drinking.
Lawless emerged to freedom at the Royal Courts of Justice, supported by members of his family and legal team and said he felt "ecstatic", but also "strange" being out of prison after so long.
Standing outside the court with his daughter Laura Jayne, he said: "I should never have been in there."
His solicitor, Mark Newby, said: "Ian is delighted to have his liberty today."
Lawless and another man were convicted of firebombing Mr Wilkins' flat after wrongly suspecting him of being a paedophile.
The former tugboat skipper's body was found in the kitchen of his smoke-damaged flat with his 12-year-old black Alsatian dog Lucky lying nearby.
Lord Justice Richards, sitting with Mrs Justice Gloster and Mrs Justice Dobbs, said the court was satisfied that if the jury had heard the new medical evidence at trial "it might have affected their assessment of the reliability of the various confessions made by the appellant".
He added: "The verdict might have been different."
Allowing the appeal against conviction, Lord Richards said the judges had also borne in mind that the verdict was a majority of 10 to 2 and was returned after a "very long period of deliberation".
The appeal against conviction was not opposed by the prosecution and no retrial was ordered.
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