A MAN who has served 23 years in prison for murder may have been wrongly convicted amid claims police pressured witnesses to lie.

Allegations that witnesses including drug addicts were pushed to give false statements have been made as part of a BBC Panorama investigation into the case of Omar Benguit broadcast today.

Benguit was convicted in January 2005 of murdering South Korean language student Jong Ok Shin, known as Oki, in Bournemouth three years earlier.

The broadcaster claims that 13 prosecution witnesses say they were pushed to embellish their statements or lie in court.

There is also CCTV evidence that may cast doubt on an account given by a key witness, it said.

Dorset Police has said its investigation was “thorough, detailed and very complex,” and that Benguit has already had two appeals against his conviction rejected.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which reviews potential miscarriages of justice, is currently assessing an application from Benguit’s lawyers.