A 76-year-old pensioner broke down in tears yesterday when his 47-year battle against conviction for a crime he did not commit was finally won in the Court of Appeal.

John Quinn, originally from Carlisle, Cumbria, campaigned tirelessly to prove he was wrongly jailed for six years in 1957 for handling stolen lead.

His conviction was finally quashed yesterday after evidence from a vital missing witness, who saw the sale of the stolen lead, was revealed in court.

Mr Quinn, a self-confessed former safe cracker, now of Botcherby, Cumbria, had always maintained that he had given up crime by the time he was convicted.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of larceny (now known as theft) and the handling of stolen lead and brass at the trial in 1957, but was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.

The pensioner served five years of his sentence in Dartmoor prison.

Some of the evidence at the original trial was given by the now disgraced Carlisle newspaper seller William Dixon, who was convicted of a string of sex crimes.

Dixon said he had transported stolen lead and brass given to him by Mr Quinn and another man and then sold them on their behalf.

The Court of Appeal heard how in the mid 1970s, the pensioner managed to contact George Jamieson, who had been present at the sale of the stolen metal.

Mr Jamieson agreed to give a statement to the Criminal Cases Review Commission confirming what Mr Quinn already knew - that he was not with Dixon when he sold the stolen goods.