The Crown says they are not proceeding with the prosecution of Scott Quick related to the death of his estranged wife.

That means Quick is a free man after almost two years in jail. He walked out of the Windsor courthouse on Monday and embraced loved ones.

"It's been hell," Quick told reporters outside of the courthouse. “I'm relieved of course. I'm looking forward to resuming my life with my children and my family."

Justice Renee Pomerance told the court "it was a difficult decision, one that was reached with care."

"I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to look at the Galbraith family and say look we've made a decision that the evidence is not here,” says Quick’s lawyer Pat Ducharme. “But they did it and that's what they are supposed to do, that's what they are paid to do."

Quick was charged with first degree murder of Nancy Quick, 40, who was run down by a stolen minivan in 2006 just outside of a school in Emeryville where she worked.

Last year, the court heard from about 100 witnesses during Quick's preliminary hearing. In December 2016, a provincial court judge ruled there was enough evidence to proceed with a first-degree murder trial. 

OPP charged Quick with first-degree murder in March 2015, when he was living in Brighton.

The trial, which will no longer take place, was supposed to happen this summer.