A MAN jailed for murdering a pensioner has claimed fresh scientific evidence throws doubt on his conviction.

Simon Hall was found guilty, in February 2003, of stabbing family friend Joan Albert to death at her home in Capel St Mary.

The Court of Appeal, in London, is to finish hearing evidence concerning his appeal against conviction.

Former East Bergholt High School pupil Hall, 32, who worked on East Hill, Colchester, has consistently denied killing 79-year-old Mrs Albert during a break-in at her home, in December 2001.

He insists he was out drinking at the time of her death.

Since his conviction, a high-profile campaign has sought to overturn his conviction and life sentence.

Leading barrister Michael Mansfield QC told Lord Justice Pitchford, Mrs Justice Dobbs and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker the challenge against Hall’s conviction centred on fresh scientific evidence.

At his trial, prosecutors claimed fibres, probably from a fleece, found on Mrs Albert's body and in her home were indistinguishable from fibres found in Hall’s room and car.

Mr Mansfield said new scientific techniques would prove the fibres were not identical.

He told the court: “At trial, the position essentially was this: There would have been perhaps no trial, let alone a conviction, if there had not been the presence of fibres that could be linked. So this is a case that entirely depends on the reliability of the expertise of those who examined the fibres.”

The Appeal Court judges are being urged to rule the conviction should be regarded as unsafe in the light of more recent scientific evidence.

An earlier appeal against Ipswich man Hall’s conviction was dismissed in 2004.

His second appeal came after his case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.