Australian National Simon Macartney, who was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his wife in 2008, is today a free man after the Fiji Court of Appeal quashed his sentence and conviction.

The Appeals Court Judges Justice John Byrne, Justice Paul Madigan and Justice Pryantha Fernando have ruled that the prosecution case was based on circumstantial evidence only and on very unreliable identification evidence.

The Judges say it would be unsafe to uphold the conviction and therefore they quashed the conviction and acquitted Macartney of murder and discharged him.

The three Judges say detailed reasons of their decision will be published soon and ordered that Macartney's passport be returned to him.

Macartney's wife, Ashika Lata's body was discovered in a mangrove swamp in Navua days after she had arrived in Fiji from Australia in early 2008.