LONDON — A British man who spent 27 years in prison walked free today after his murder conviction was overturned because of new DNA evidence in a case that may help others who have been wrongly convicted.

Following the decision, prosecutors said they may review other cases in which people were convicted before the advent of DNA profiling.

Britain's Court of Appeal ruled that Sean Hodgson, 57, did not kill 22-year-old Teresa De Simone in 1979. She was found strangled in her car outside the pub where she worked in Southampton, 80 miles southwest of London.

Emerging from court flanked by family members and his lawyers, Hodgson, looking pale, waved at journalists and said he was ecstatic.

"It's great to be free again," he said.

DNA profiling did not exist in 1982, when Hodgson was sentenced to life in prison. But an analysis sought recently by Hodgson's lawyers showed that DNA from the scene did not match Hodgson's.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which is in charge of most prosecutions in England and Wales, said today it is considering reviewing other cases in which DNA evidence is now available and the defendants are still alive.

Hodgson initially confessed to the killing, but he later recanted and pleaded not guilty. His lawyers argued he was a pathological liar and any confession he made was false.