There is outrage in Ocean County tonight after a state appeals court overturned the conviction of an accused child predator.

Brian Warner, formerly of Little Egg Harbor, was convicted last year of trying to lure children into his van in Tuckerton, but now he has been awarded a new trial.

Warner declared his innocence last year in exclusive interviews with News 12 New Jersey, but the jury found him guilty of trying to get three children into his van in 2004.

Prosecutors argued that the van was rigged with padded walls and a motion detector underneath to alert Warner if someone was approaching. There was also a knife inside the vehicle, no interior door handles in the back, candy in a cooler and condoms.

Warner was sentenced to 12 years for allegedly luring children, and for possession of a stun gun and bomb-making materials.But an appeals court ruled that the possession charges should have been tried separately from the child-luring charges.

Warner will be transferred to the Ocean County Jail from state prison.