A man hanged 45 years ago for killing a woman shopkeeper has had his murder conviction overturned by three Appeal Court judges.

The case of the Somali seaman Mahmood Hussain Mattan was re-examined after the Criminal Cases Review Commission agreed last autumn to refer it back to the Court of Appeal in London.

The shop where Lily Volpert died

Mr Mattan was hanged in September 1952 - the last man to be executed at Cardiff prison - after being convicted of murdering Lily Volpert whose throat was cut in an attack at her shop in the city's docklands.

His family, including his widow Laura, have fought a long campaign to clear his name because of their belief that he was wrongly sent to the gallows on wholly unreliable evidence from a prosecution witness.

Mr Mattan, 28, a father of three, was arrested within hours of the murder in March 1952.

He was convicted at Glamorganshire Assizes in Swansea in July of that year.

An appeal was rejected in August and he was executed the following month.

After hearing new evidence in the case, Lord Justice Rose, the Vice-President, sitting with Mr Justice Holland and Mr Justice Penry-Davey, overturned the murder conviction.

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