Payout agreed for man who faced execution at 14

A Canadian who faced execution at the age of 14 is to receive $6.5m Canadian dollars (€4m) in compensation, five decades after being wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a schoolmate.

Steven Truscott was sentenced to hang after being convicted of killing 12-year-old Lynne Harper in 1959.

Ontario’s top court declared Mr Truscott was a victim of a miscarriage of justice last August and acquitted him.

Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley announced the compensation package today.

Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976.