R v OMAR BENGUIT

News update 17/7/24: This case is currently before the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Omar Benguit was arrested twenty two years ago on 22/8/02 and unanimously convicted after three trials of murdering Korean student Jong Ok-Shin ("Oki") as she was walked home from a night out in Bournemouth Town Centre on 12/7/02. She had been stabbed in the back at 02.50 by "a man wearing a mask, who then ran away" (her dying words) and she died later that morning in hospital. Link

Mr Benguit had faced two earlier trials on 13/7/03 and 5/4/04 for Oki's murder as well as for allegedly raping the chief prosecution witness "BB", but he had been acquitted of rape in the 2nd trial.

The evidence against Mr Benguit was provided by BB and corroborated by numerous other drug addicts and prostitutes She had allegedly driven Mr Benguit along with two other men in her car (Nicholas Gbadamosi and Delroy Woolry) when they spotted Oki. They jumped out of the car to accost her and Mr Benguit stabbed her. They then ordered BB to drive them to a crack house, where Mr Benguit was seen by other occupants to be agitated with blood on his tee-shirt. BB then drove the men to another address where Mr Benguit washed and changed; and a bag allegedly containing his clothes were then thrown into the river Stour at Iford Bridge.

The three men later 'gang-raped' BB using "red-handled pliers" in the act; and Mr Gbadamosi also raped her again separately before daybreak.

Various statements were made by witnesses who testified that Mr Benguit had blood on his clothing; that he had confessed to the murder; and that in the weeks leading up to the crime he had possessed a knife identical in size and shape to the murder weapon (6" long with a curved tip"). This last statement was taken down by DC Mark Prince on 3/7/03 - almost a year after the crime.

A bag of clothes was also retrieved by police divers from the river Stour at Iford Bridge, which a forensic scientist said were possibly stained with blood and could have been thrown into the river at the time of the crime. The clothes bearing a La-Coste motif and a Nike Hoops logo were shown to another witness who was able to confirm in a statement dated 5/5/03 (again produced by DC Mark Prince) that they were "identical" to what she may have lent to Mr Benguit, or which she recalled him wearing.

It should be noted that the 2nd man Mr Gbadamosi was cleared by the time of the 2nd trial of having any involvement in the murder or the rape of BB; and the 3rd man Mr Woolry was arrested but not charged with any of the above offences and was deported to Jamaica as an overstayer by Dorset police on 5/9/02.

The police were able to confirm that despite extensive viewing of CCTV in the area of the crime and the crack house, no sign of either of BB's two cars that she may have used could be seen; and as for the red-handled pliers which were found in one of her cars, no DNA could be detected on them (or in either car) from any of the three men.

Mr Benguit's only defence was that he was innocent, as he had nothing to do with the crime.

He had no alibi and could only recall walking along Charminster Road on his way home from the town center, because the police had blocked off streets in the vicinity of the murder. He said in his police interview on 22/8/02: "If you see the police tapes, you should see me walking home at that time."

CCTV

The images below show Mr Benguit attending a pub at 20.36 on the evening of 11/7/02 and a man exiting a car at 03.20 on 12/7/02 and waiting to make a call at a telephone box before walking away along Charminster Road.

The most remarkable fact about the CCTV is not just that the person resembles Mr Benguit - it is that he has never been identified as anyone else.

The police were able to identify the man standing in the telephone box and others nearby as Spanish students, but the man in question whose call was traced to "the 3rd man" Mr Woolry (whose diary contained the contact details of Mr Benguit) was not it seemed pursued.

DC 694 Mark Prince of Dorset police accepted that the person resembled Mr Benguit, but misleadingly stated that he was wearing a baseball cap (statement dated 3/7/2003). The person however is bald-headed - as was Mr Benguit. These colour images were not available to Mr Benguit's defence team - only poor b/w photocopies had been provided.

Omar Benguit on CCTV

Mr Benguit's application dated 5/3/21 is currently before the CCRC and seeks a review of other CCTV recordings made at locations along the route which Mr Benguit told the police he took while walking home from Bournemouth town center in the early hours of 12/7/02. See also the BBC documentary The Man With No Alibi .

The three trials orchestrated by Dorset police and the CPS involved a huge amount of resources, but if Mr Benguit is innocent of murdering Jong-Ok Shin - as the above images show - then who was the perpetrator?

And how did Dorset police manage to find a bus load of crack addicts to sign printed statements which formed a perfect case against him?

Mrs Justice Hallett sentenced Mr Benguit to life imprisonment on 31/1/05 and told him:-

"This was a wicked crime...Poor Oki-Shin lies dead. Her family must mourn her terribly. From everything we have heard she was a lovely and kind girl. But for the courage of a number of your fellow addicts you would have walked free and you very nearly did. In my view on the evidence presented to this court you are a totally nasty piece of work and a very dangerous young man."

Detective Sergeant Kevin Connolly DS391 of Dorset police who was in charge of the police investigation assisted by DC 694 Mark Prince said:"I would like to welcome today's outcome on behalf of Oki's parents. Today's verdict represents the imprisonment of a very violent and dangerous offender whose sexual desires drove him to murder Oki. Many witnesses from the drug world gave evidence, as they were appalled by Benguit's crimes and I would like to personally thank them. Omar Benguit has now been imprisoned which I hope assists Oki's family come to terms with their loss."

DANILO RESTIVO

Danilo Restivo settled in Bournemouth in March 2002 having moved there from Italy. His presence was notified to Dorset police by a telex from the Italian police on 29th August 2002, warning that Restivo was a "grave danger to women" and advising that "he should be investigated for the Oki murder". Dorset police replied to say that they need not worry about Restivo, as they had apprehended Benguit.

On 12/11/02 Heather Barnett was brutally murdered in her own house opposite to where Restivo lived and a few streets away from where Oki had been slain, but this did not ring any alarm bells with the police, even though Restivo was at the scene of that crime offering sympathy to the victim's children. He was eventually convicted of murdering her nine years later on 29/6/11, when the body of Elisa Claps was discovered in a church alcove in Italy. Both Mrs Barnett and Ms Claps had been murdered and mutiliated in a similar manner - and each had a lock of hair in their hands.

The third and final trial of Omar Benguit took place in January 2005, while Danilo Restivo was being kept under 24 hour surveillance and when he had already been cautioned on 12/5/04 for having in his possessiona knife [picture] identical in size and shape to the murder weapon used against Jong Ok-Shin and a balaclava [picture]

A fresh clump of human hair [picture] was found at the very spot where Oki-Shin was stabbed outside 223 Malmesbury Park Road. The photograph of the clump of hair was found by chance by Mr Benguit's sister Amie while looking in a folder of crime scene photographs, after news of Danilo Restivo's hair fetish had become public knowledge following his conviction of the murder of Heather Barnett. Girls living in Bournemouth had complained to the police about a man surreptitiously cutting their hair with scissors while using public transport; and in the Heather Barnett trial - as in the case of Elisa Claps - the presence of cut hair at the scene of the crime was considered to be the 'calling card' of Danilo Restivo. In addititon, Elisa, Oki and Heather were all murdered on the 12th of the month.

On 30/6/11 DS Kevin Connolly of Dorset Police and the senior detective in the 'Oki' murder investigation said:-

"Dorset can confirm that during the initial investigation into Jong-Ok Shin’s murder, approximately 2,000 items were recovered, including many from the surrounding area – typical with the findings of any major crime investigation. This included an extremely small quantity of animal hair combined with uncut human hair which was located a distance away from the victim on Malmesbury Park Road. They were not found next to the victim or on the victim. They were not attributed to the victim or the incident in any way and, following examination, were excluded from the investigation."

A statement however taken by DC Mark Prince from a purported local resident Donna Welstead just before Mr Benguit's appeal on 25/3/14 confirmed that she "immediately remembered" hiring a mobile hairdresser twelve years earlier in 2002 who may have dropped the clump of hair in the street after leaving her home. Statement

Image believed to be Danilo Restivo

CCTV image of a man apparently wearing dark glasses and carrying a satchel over his left shoulder walking along Charminster Road towards the murder scene at apparently 02.51 - one minute past the time of the murder at 02.50. The camera was running slow however by 4m 17s so the real time was 02.55 - five minutes after the murder. It takes only five minutes to walk back from the murder scene to pass the telephone box.

The forensic pathologist described the knife Oki was attacked with as "single single-edged,14-15 cm long, tapering to the point". The knife found in possession of Danilo Restivo matched the type of knife and was discovered in his bag when he was arrested in a park while spying on women on 12/5/04. Before Oki Shin died, she managed to tell a doctor that her attacker was "wearing a mask". Restivo had a balaclava [picture] with him when he was arrested. Oki Shin was an English language student and had only a basic knowledge of English, so she would have been unlikely to have known the word balaclava but would have used the simpler word mask.

While police watched Danilo Restivo 24 hours a day as the suspect in the murder of Heather Barnett, DS Connolly, DI Jez Noyce, Det Supt Mark Cooper and DC Mark Prince were sitting in court on 31/1/05 listening to Judge Lady Hallett harrangue Benguit for being a nasty piece of work. The Dorset police officers congratulated themselves following the third and final trial and thanked the local drug community for helping to capture "a very violent and dangerous criminal".

Three victims...

A report suggests that an image of missing Korean student Erika Ansermin was found on Restivo's computer. Her body has yet to be found.

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