The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a previous decision finding John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, the couple accused of trying to bomb the provincial legislature in 2013, were entrapped by law enforcement.

In a unanimous ruling released Wednesday, the three-member Court of Appeal agreed with B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce's finding that the RCMP had manipulated the couple into going through with the plot.

"The RCMP knew early on that the accused did not have the ability to commit an act of terrorism. They pushed the accused to create a workable plan when they were unable to do so on their own," Justice Elizabeth Bennett wrote in their decision.

"The overall conduct of the investigation was a travesty of justice and a stay of proceedings must issue."

Nuttall and Korody were initially found guilty of several terrorism offences, including conspiracy to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place.

Their convictions were put on hold until 2016, when Bruce ruled they had been entrapped by the RCMP – a decision Crown prosecutors appealed to the province's top court.

The B.C. Court of Appeal did find Bruce made some errors in her decision, including her finding that the RCMP lacked "reasonable suspicion" that Nuttall and Korody would have committed an offence, and that undercover officers' conduct dealing with the couple was threating.

"The trial judge also erred in finding that the average person would have committed the offences," Bennett wrote.

Despite those issues, the Court of Appeal said a new trial would be an abuse of process.

"I can find no fault with the trial judge's conclusion that the police manufactured the crime that was committed and were the primary actors in its commission," Bennett wrote.

Nuttall and Korody were recent converts to Islam when they came onto the RCMP's radar. The courts heard Nuttall had been espousing violent jihadist views at mosques in the Lower Mainland, but was "consistently rebuffed" by the Muslims he spoke with.

That's when they were approached and befriended by undercover police posing as extremists, who encouraged Nuttall and even offered him some spiritual guidance when he was struggling to square his faith with the potential killing of innocent people.

Police also eventually provided the couple with fake C4 for the bombs, a substance the court found they wouldn’t have been able to acquire on their own.

Lawyers for Nuttall and Korody noted their clients were troubled and isolated – both were recovering heroin addicts on social assistance who lacked support from family or friends – which made them easy targets for manipulation.

"They were vulnerable people who were placed in a fantasy world where the police were their best friends," said Nuttall's lawyer, Marilyn Sandford. "The manipulation and the psychological repercussions of that are devastating for anybody.”

Sandford said she views the court's decision as a strong repudiation of sting operations targeting vulnerable populations.

"This operation was unique north of the border, but this style of operation – of police manufactured crime – is very common now in the United States. And what the judgment shows is that we have a robust notion of entrapment in Canada," she said.

The couple's lawyers declined to share any information on Nuttall and Korody's current employment status or living situation, but said their clients were pleased by the court's decision.

"They're trying to keep a low profile and just get on with their lives," Sandford said.

The Crown still has the option of appealing the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Sheila Scott and Maria Weisgarber