A HAMPSHIRE man convicted of murdering a student as she walked home will find out today whether he has won an appeal.

Omar Benguit, 42, was given a life sentence at Winchester Crown Court in 2005 after being convicted of killing Jong-Ok Shin in Bournemouth in 2002.

Daily Echo: MURDERED: South Korean Jong-Ok Shin

His case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Lawyers for Benguit have claimed fresh evidence had been uncovered which made the conviction unsafe.

They say the murder of 26-year old Oki, as she was known, bore several “hallmarks” of killer Danilo Restivo’s – already convicted of killing Bournemouth mum Heather Barnett and Italian schoolgirl Elisa Claps.

All three involved attacks from behind on lone women he lived near to, involved a knife and an element of preparation, and all took place on the 12th of the month, it was argued at the Court of Appeal.

Rag Chand, representing Benguit, said Restivo, who lived three roads away from Oki at the time of her death, had been arrested in Bournemouth in 2004, as police were concerned about his “suspicious” activity.

During their investigation, he said, a balaclava and knife had been found in Restivo’s car – a knife which matched Oki’s injuries.

However the Crown Prosecution Service argued that Benguit’s conviction was safe.

Unemployed Benguit, whose parents Fatima and Mohamed used to live in the Flushards Estate in Lymington, is a former pupil at the town’s Priestlands School.

He worked at the former Golden Produce chicken factory before moving to Bournemouth.