Prosecutors have withdrawn a second-degree murder charge against a man who spent 23 years in prison for the killing of a 10-year-old girl in 1989.

Ontario’s court of appeal set aside the conviction against Timothy Rees, 62, last month and ordered a new trial into the complex case, which includes recanted confessions, accusations of police conspiracy and mishandled evidence.

It came after two former federal justice ministers said a “miscarriage of justice” had likely occurred during Rees’s original trial more than 30 years ago.