TORONTO - The $6.5 million awarded to Steven Truscott nearly five decades after he faced the gallows as a terrified 14-year-old proved a "bittersweet" victory Monday for the man who called it the final, long-awaited step in exonerating him of the rape and murder of schoolmate Lynne Harper.

Robbed of his adolescence and forced to live most of his life under an assumed name, Truscott and his wife maintained that proving his innocence - not compensation - was their sole purpose when they sought to re-open his case more than 10 years ago.

"This is a bittersweet moment for us," the couple said in a joint statement from Guelph, Ont.

"Although we are grateful for the freedom and stability this award will provide, we are also painfully aware that no amount of money could ever truly compensate Steven for the terror of being sentenced to hang at the age of 14, the loss of his youth, or the stigma of living for almost 50 years as a convicted murderer."

The Truscotts added they now hope to live the rest of their lives in "peace and tranquility."

The financial award, to be paid out equally between Ontario and Ottawa, comes nearly a year after the province's top court declared Truscott a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

While acquitting Truscott of the 1959 crime, the Ontario Court of Appeal stopped short of declaring him innocent due to a lack of physical evidence.

All the physical evidence from the case was destroyed in 1967. Harper's body was exhumed in 2006, but a forensic examination failed to yield any DNA evidence.

Truscott became the youngest person in Canada ever sentenced to death after he was convicted in 1959 of raping and strangling 12-year-old Harper near Clinton, Ont., north of London.

The death sentence was later commuted to life in prison and Truscott served nearly a decade in jail before being released on parole in 1969, although he steadfastly maintained his innocence.

He eventually settled into a quiet life in Guelph with his wife and three children until the family abandoned their life in anonymity to go public with his case.

Truscott's legal ordeal was an "unprecedented" and "extraordinary" journey, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said after announcing the award.

"It is my hope that Mr. Truscott and his family will now be able to spend all of their time on the rest of life's journey," Bentley said.

Truscott's wife Marlene will also receive $100,000 for income she lost in working to clear her husband and the couple won't have to repay nearly $1 million in Legal Aid fees, Bentley added.

The award follows the recommendations of former Appeal Court Justice Sydney Robins, who was asked by the province to review the issue of compensation following Truscott's acquittal.

In his 57-page report, Robins recommended that Truscott, 63, receive $6.5 million - $250,000 for every year he spent in jail and $100,000 for each year he spent on parole.

"It will provide him with financial security for the remainder of his life. It will enable him to provide a substantial legacy to his children," Robins wrote.

"It is proportional to awards of compensation made in other relevant cases and it will serve as a public acknowledgment of the magnitude of the harm caused by this miscarriage of justice."

The report paints a disturbing portrait of Truscott's ordeal since his arrest. Psychiatrists drugged him with LSD and sodium pentothal - truth serum - as part of his treatment while in prison. Family members were barred from his wedding, which was held in secret with a member of the parole board and his wife acting as a witnesses.

Yet Truscott managed to live a productive life in southwestern Ontario, where he raised his children and worked as a machinist and mechanical millwright, Robins noted.

Lynne Harper's family, who tried to persuade Robins not to recommend compensation, were told of the government's decision to award Truscott $6.5 million, Bentley said.

It's unclear whether the federal Conservatives will contribute their share of the award, a matter Bentley indicated was still under discussion.

"There will be discussions between the lawyers, but it was important - having accepted Justice Robins' recommendations - that we provide the compensation immediately," he said.

The award puts Truscott in the company of a small group of Canadians who've been financially compensated for being convicted of crimes they didn't commit.

David Milgaard spent 23 years in prison for the murder of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller and received $10 million after DNA evidence helped catch the real killer.

Guy Paul Morin was tried twice for the 1984 killing of Christine Jessop, 9, just north of Toronto. Exonerated in 1995 on the strength of DNA evidence, he was awarded $1.2 million in compensation.

Unlike Morin and Milgaard, Truscott wasn't cleared by DNA evidence, nor has Harper's killer been found.

That's what makes the case so important, said Marlys Edwardh, one of Truscott's lawyers.

"There are many wrongful convictions that can't be unwound by DNA," she said.

"I think the model (Robins has) adopted is both useful and insightful and will be of (precedent setting) value."

The case may give hope to those who have been wrongly convicted and can't prove their innocence, but it does nothing to bind the government "to do the very same thing for Truscott No. 2," said Alan Young, a professor at York University's Osgoode Law School in Toronto.

"It may be that the Steven Truscott case had such notoriety that felt that they had to make the payment because the whole world was watching," he said.

"I like the development, but I wouldn't start celebrating a huge change in the approach because it will still be a case-by-case determination."

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