Benguit, Omar

Omar Benguit was convicted in January 2005 at Winchester Crown Court for the murder of Jong-Ok Shin. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mr Benguit appealed against his conviction but his appeal was dismissed in July 2005. He applied to the CCRC for a review of his conviction in May 2010.

During review, the CCRC identified new evidence, not previously available to Mr Benguit’s defence, which potentially impacted on the reliability and credibility of a prosecution witness who had given evidence at trial.

In addition, the CCRC obtained new evidence which, had it been known at trial, would have enabled the defence to suggest a possible alternative suspect for the murder.

The CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility the Court of Appeal would find that the conviction was unsafe.

The CCRC referred the conviction in December 2012.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in April 2014.