Detectives could re-open a 25-year-old murder case after a jailed Bradford man was dramatically cleared of the killing.

Throughout almost two decades of imprisonment, Anthony Steel vehemently denied murdering Carole Wilkinson who was bludgeoned to death with a large coping stone in October 1997.

Yesterday, judges at London's Court of Appeal quashed his conviction after psychologists revealed Mr Steel had been in a vulnerable state at the time he made a police confession.

Mr Steel was arrested more than a year after Miss Wilkinson's body was discovered on waste land by Woodhall Road in Calverley.

The case made history as the 20-year-old Ravenscliffe baker was the first murder victim to be certified dead after a life-support machine was switched off by doctors.

After his arrest, Mr Steel confessed to the killing but later claimed he had been "badgered" into doing so by the interviewing officers.

Yesterday his conviction, dating back to December 1979, was quashed, finally completing his fight for justice.

As the 46-year-old celebrated the ruling, police said they would examine the judges' detailed written judgement before deciding whether to re-open the case.

Mr Steel insisted he knew the real murderer's identity and called on the West Yorkshire force to act.

Lord Justice Rix, sitting with Mr Justice Henriques and Mr Justice Treacy, said the ruling followed new evidence from psychologists indicating that Mr Steel "is and was mentally handicapped" and "therefore a significantly more vulnerable interviewee than could be appreciated at the time of the trial."

He said the original jury had had to decide whether Mr Steel's confession was true or whether it had been "put in his mouth by police insistence and suggestions".

The new evidence of his "vulnerable personality" could have made a significant difference to their thinking, said Lord Rix.

Mr Steel was a 22-year-old gardener living in Cobden Street, Idle, when he was arrested. After almost 20 years in jail he was release on licence in 1998 while his case was being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Yesterday, after the conviction was quashed, he said: "It has taken me 24 years to clear my name.

"If everything the police knew had come out before my trial, I would never have been found guilty - because I am an innocent man and the court now agrees with that."

He added: "I suffered 20 years in jail because the police destroyed my alibi for the morning of the murder - yet they knew all the time that the story their witness was telling was wrong.

"I suffered 20 years in jail because the police would not allow me to see a solicitor until I signed a confession. It was rubbish."

And Mr Steel said he now knew who the real killer was.

"All this time there was one man who should have been in police sights for this murder."

He called on Bradford police to investigate the man who, he claimed, has convictions of manslaughter, rape, sexual assault and robbery, and was still in jail.

Mr Steel's barrister, Michael Mansfield QC, said he was interviewed six times for a total of seven-and-a-half hours over three days. For the first day he had no refreshments and went 37 hours without any washing facilities. Mr Mansfield said police had refused him a solicitor although they did not accept this.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "We accept the findings of the Court of Appeal and we await the written judgement which will then be reviewed."

He added: "West Yorkshire Police note that the decision was based on new psychological findings which were not known at the time of Mr Steel's trial and that any decision regarding that (the re-opening of the murder inquiry) will be made once we have had the opportunity to review the findings of the court of appeal. Mr Steel is pictured getting a hug of congratulations from his sister, Angela, after his successful appeal,