"I'm a happy man" - former suspect in Carl Bridgewater case on latest police review into the historic Stourbridge shooting

But an author from Bridgnorth, who has campaigned to get the case re-opened, called it 'a sad day for justice'.

Bert Spencer, a convicted murderer who has lived under a cloud of suspicion that he killed the 13-year-old paperboy, was interviewed by top criminologist Professor David Wilson for a TV documentary, which cast doubt on his alibi.

Calls were made following the screening last June for police to investigate new 'evidence' unearthed by the programme makers. The Staffordshire force subsequently launched a review but announced on Tuesday21st) it was taking no further action.

Mr Spencer, now 77, today said: "I needed this police report. I knew what it would say but I needed them to say it. I'm a happy man."

The former ambulanceman has always denied the 1978 shooting of schoolboy Carl who is believed to have disturbed a burglary at Yew Tree Farm, near Stourbridge, one of the stops on his paper round.

For a while Mr Spencer, a former neighbour of the Bridgewater family, who later served time in prison for a murder in the same village, was chief suspect in the police inquiry but he was ruled out after a work colleague gave him an alibi.

However his name continued to come up in each new review of the case, which remains unsolved after 40 years. This week police said there were 'no grounds' to interview Spencer again.

The pensioner, who now lives in Lincolnshire, said he hopes the finger-pointing will now stop so that he can live out his latter years in peace. Following the 90-minute Channel 4 broadcast, parents of pupils at the local school voiced concerns about the proximity of an alleged child-killer. He later suffered a mild stroke.

"That has all calmed down now and I hope that this latest statement from the police will kill it completely," he said.

"I was apprehensive about the report but never worried about what it would say. It's been frustrating living with Wilson's accusations hanging over me - but there was nothing to find, the programme was based on speculation and deceit.

"I don't know if this will ever go away completely. I just hope I go before the next lot of lies."

But Simon Golding, from Bridgnorth, who has written a book, Scapegoat for Murder: The Truth About the Killing of Carl Bridgewater, and worked on the TV documentary, vowed to carry on fighting for the case to be re-opened.

"I will not let this tragedy be swept under the carpet," he said. "The violent murder needs to be looked at again and maybe we can put an end to the speculation that surrounds this terrible crime..

"There was no great great shock in reading that the police are not going to re-open the case. It was the police, who in my opinion, were partially responsible for all the smoke surrounding this case. It's a very sad day for justice and the search for the truth."