Lawyers for the province's attorney general recently asked the Ontario Court of Appeal to hear testimony from a mysterious "Ms. X.," who claims Truscott gave her a ride on his bicycle and made unwelcome advances as they ran through a cornfield in the summer of 1957 or 1958. Truscott denies it happened.

In 1958, they were both 13.

The Crown argues her story is circumstantial evidence that Truscott was also the killer of Lynne Harper, 12, who was found raped and murdered in a woodlot known as Lawson's Bush, near Clinton, in southwestern Ontario, on June 11, 1959.

She was last seen riding on the crossbar of Truscott's bicycle.

In written arguments filed with the court, the Crown claims there are "remarkable similarities" between the two events - enough to create an inference that Truscott was involved in both incidents.

But in a decision released Wednesday, a five-judge panel of the appeal court ruled Ms. X.'s testimony is irrelevant to the question it must decide. The court is reviewing the 47-year old murder case to determine whether Truscott's conviction for Harper's murder should stand.

While Truscott denies Ms. X.'s story, his lawyers told the court to assume it was true for the purpose of determining whether to admit her evidence.

The court said Wednesdaythat what the Crown describes as remarkable parallels were actually "relatively innocuous" similarities.

Meanwhile, the Crown has ignored "striking, if not overwhelming, differences."

"Ms. Harper was the victim of rape and murder. Ms. X. was the `victim' of a clumsy sexual advance by a young friend that she quickly and effectively brought to an end before any harm was done."

"If anything, Ms. X.'s testimony would suggest that Mr. Truscott would not react violently had he made sexual advances to Ms. Harper that were rejected by her."

At 14, Truscott was sentenced to hang for the murder, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

The Crown argued Ms. X.'s story should also be heard to counter assertions that Truscott is a person of good character and unlikely to commit murder. But the court was coolly dismissive of those arguments, describing them as "strained if not inaccurate," "novel and meritless," "passing strange" and lacking even "the faintest support." Truscott hasn't even put his character in question, the court said.

Ms. X. said she and Truscott often played at the school near the Clinton Air Force base. One day they rode off from the school on his bike and found themselves at the cornfield, where they ran around. At one point, she said, Truscott tired to hug and kiss her and put his hand down her pants.

They tussled briefly and may have fallen to the ground, she claimed, adding that she didn't recall being scared. But she said that when she learned of Harper's death a year later, she thought to herself that could have been her.

A few years ago, her name came to the attention of former Quebec judge Fred Kaufman, who was reviewing the case for the federal government.

Truscott's lawyers asked for a publication ban on part of Wednesday's ruling, arguing disclosure of Ms. X.'s claim would embarrass Truscott and damage a reputation he has spent years rebuilding. They were also worried it would deter wrongly convicted persons from coming forward to fight for exoneration.

But the court said it was satisfied that no reasonable person reading Ms. X.'s story would think it reflects on Truscott's character as a teenager, much less today. Nor would it deter wrongful conviction claims.

Truscott had a legal victory on another issue Wednesday when the court ruled his lawyers can have access to psychiatric records of a key Crown witness at his 1959 trial, Jocelyne Gaudet.

The appeal court heard testimony in June that Gaudet claimed to have lied at the trial and checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in 1966 to avoid testifying at a Supreme Court of Canada review of the case.

It returns to the Court of Appeal for hearings in January.