CONVICTED killer Omar Benguit will hear this week whether he will be allowed to take his fight for freedom to the House of Lords judges.

Benguit is serving life imprisonment for the murder of South Korean language student Jong-Ok Shin.

The 26-year-old was stabbed in the back as she walked along Malmesbury Park Road, Charminster, following a night out with friends in Bournemouth town centre on July 12, 2002.

Benguit was found guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court in January last year. It was the third time he had stood trial after two previous juries had failed to reach a verdict.

In July last year Benguit appealed against his conviction but three judges at the Court of Appeal in London rejected his bid.

Shortly after his lawyer, Giovanni di Stefano, announced Benguit's solicitors, Paul Martin and Co, had filed a letter to the House of Lords to petition a question to the lords. They claim the prosecution at the third trial failed to adduce bad character evidence using the correct law.

On Thursday the house will be reading its decision on whether Benguit's petition will be assessed by three Law Lords on the Appeal Committee. Its decision will be based on whether the point of law is of general public importance. If the petition is successful, the Law Lords can then send his case to five senior judges.

Mr Stefano says he has already submitted Benguit's case to the European Court of Human Rights and the Criminal Cases Review Committee. He said: "We will win this case eventually. This man did not murder that student. He is not capable of murder. I will not stop until this case is put right."

First published: January 10, 2006