The Crown won't pursue a retrial for high-profile double-murder defendant Stephen Ralph Stone

Six months ago the Court of Appeal quashed his 25-year-old jury trial convictions over the 1899 disappearance of Deane Fuller-Sandys .

Three co-accused were also acquitted - but a re-trial had been ordered for Stone.

The Crown confirmed the decision not to go ahead with the re-trial during a brief hearing this morning at the High Court in Auckland.

The solicitor says, with three of the four major witnesses no longer available, sufficient evidence and important context aren't obtainable for a trial.

The decision now leaves Stone a completely free man for the first time in decades.