An appeal court has set aside the murder conviction of a man found guilty of chasing a rugby league player and stabbing him 42 times outside a caravan park in north Queensland.

Steven Walker-Ely was sentenced to life in jail last year, at the age of 36, after a Supreme Court jury in Mackay found he killed Birdsall Fa'apepele's in 2021.

The 25-year-old's body was found by the side of a highway on December 14, 2021.

In its submission to the Queensland Court of Appeal, the defence argued Mr Walker-Ely had not been given a fair trial.

During the appeal hearing in August, the Crown accepted there had been "significant inaccuracies" in the prosecution's address to the jury during the trial.

In handing down their findings on Tuesday, three justices of the Court of Appeal accepted the defence

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