OMAR Benguit may be tried again for the murder of language student Jong-Ok Shin.

Jurors were discharged yesterday when, after 21 hours and 41 minutes of deliberations, they were unable to decide if it was he who stabbed her three times in the back.

They had heard what Mr Justice Michael Morland yesterday called "the most difficult murder case I have had to try".

The Winchester Crown Court jury cleared co-defendant Nicholas Gbadamosi, 33, of twice raping the Crown's key witness.

The panel was unable to reach a verdict over whether Gbadamosi, of Nutley Way, West Howe, aided Benguit's alleged cover-up of the murder by disposing of a bag of clothing into the River Stour.

Neither could they decide whether Benguit, of Linwood Road, Winton, raped the 26-year-old witness.

She claimed that she unwittingly drove the defendants, and a third man who was not before the court, to and from the crime scene.

Prosecutor Nigel Pascoe told Mr Justice Morland: "The Crown's position is that we should seek a re-trial on these issues."

It was at around 3am on July 12 2002 when neighbours in Malmesbury Park Road, Bournemouth, found the 26-year-old South Korean student lying on the pavement.

In the moments before she died, Oki, as she was referred to throughout the trial, told doctors she had been stabbed by a masked man.

The case has been listed for mention at Winchester Crown Court on Friday August 22.