THE US Justice Department has declared that Richard Jewell (33) is no longer a suspect in the bombing during a concert at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in July thus ending a three month ordeal for the former security guard.
Mr Jewell was first hailed as a hero when he alerted the police to the bomb hidden in a knapsack. He helped clear the area before it exploded killing a woman and injuring 111.
A Turkish TV cameraman also died from a heart attack.
In a letter to Mr Jewell's lawyer, which has been made public, US Attorney Kent Alexander said: "Based on the evidence developed to date, Mr Jewell is not a target of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing investigation."
But there is no apology for the ordeal Mr Jewell endured as he was trailed constantly by FBI agents and the media which were camped outside the apartment he shared with his mother.
Mr Jewell will give a press conference today but his lawyer, Mr Jack Martin, said he was overjoyed.
"He's been waiting to get this. He's ready to get on with repairing his reputation. Maybe he can get some work now.
Three days alter the bombing on July 27th, the Atlania Journal Constitution caused a sensation when it reported that Mr Jewell was now "the focus" of the FBI's investigation.
Other media quickly picked up on the allegation which was said to have come from FBI sources.
The only evidence offered as to why Mr Jewell was a prime suspect was that his background fitted a common profile for a lone bomber.
He has had a varied career as a deputy sheriff and in security work and was once arrested for impersonating a police officer.
But as the investigation proceeded it emerged that Mr Jewell, who had never been arrested or charged, could not have found the bomb and made the anonymous phone call to the police alerting them to the bomb.
Also queried was why Mr Jewell should have stayed in a dangerous area helping to clear away people if he knew a bomb was about to explode.
The FBI investigation and media stake out made Mr Jewell a virtual prisoner in his mother's apartment where he passed the time playing video games and watching TV.
At one stage, Mrs Jewel pleaded with President Clinton in a press conference to order the investigators to clear her son.
The letter of clearance has been part of an agreement between Mr Jewell's lawyers and the Department of Justice by which he submitted to a six hour interview with FBI agents on October 6th on the understanding that he would be publicly cleared if no damaging information was found.
In the letter, Mr Alexander says: "Unfortunately, criminal investigations often intrude upon the lives of private citizens like Mr Jewell and his mother."
In this case, the letter says, the "highly unusual and intense publicity was neither designed nor desired by the FBI and in fact interfered with the investigation."
Mr Jewell's lawyers have said that libel actions will be taken against those media which first identified Mr Jewell as a prime suspect.