A general view of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut is seen in this August 23, 2012 file photo. (REUTERS/Chris Wattie)

A Nunavut man who was convicted of murder and attempted murder for shooting and killing three people and injuring two others after they broke into his house has had his convictions overturned.

Chris Bishop was living in a small one-door house in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, according to court documents. One January night in 2007, he called RCMP at 3 a.m. to report that some men were trying to break down his door. He asked for police to come immediately, but no officers came.

As the attackers broke down Bishop's front door, he retreated to his bedroom.

After the invaders broke down the bedroom door, Bishop fired his rifle. Two of the invaders were found dead in or close to the bedroom, court documents say.

In the appeal decision released this week, the judges say what happened next is not as clear from the evidence. But a third invader was shot and killed and two others were wounded.

Bishop, whose rifle was legal though his ammunition was not, appealed his convictions in part over testimony at trial from a neighbour that he had bragged of killing some people in Yellowknife — which he never did, his lawyer James Morton told Sun News.

"So it looked like you've got a habitual killer on the one hand and people who clearly weren't particularly innocent because they were invading a house, but on the other hand they didn't know whether it was just a bunch of drunken rowdies or a bunch of dangerous thugs," Morton said.

A new trial has been ordered.