Innocent Chinese man sees marriage offers flood in after being cleared of murder


A man who was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder has been flooded with marriage offers after getting thousands of pounds of compensation.


Wang Benyu, 60, received 1.5 million Chinese Yuan (£142,000) in compensation from the Chinese government after spending nearly two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.


Mr Wang, who was a farmer, always maintained his innocence over the crime committed on December 15 1994.


On that night his room-mate at a hostel for farm workers in Baotou, Li Yanming, raped and killed a girl he had brought back to their room.


At first, Li threatened to kill Mr Wang if he reported the crime to police, and when he refused he knelt down and cried to beg Wang to keep it secret - to which Mr Wang agreed.


But his friend disposed of the body and then fled, leaving Mr Wang in the frame for the crime.


Mr Wang was sentenced to jail for rape and murder, narrowly escaping a death sentence in November 1996.


He spent his time in a brutal prison where he ate bad food, did forced labour and expected to die behind bars, never seeing his family again in Baotou city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.


He never stopped pleading his innocence but said: 'I resigned myself to prison life. I resigned myself to dying in jail.'


But in 2012, Li was caught in the capital Beijing for other crimes and confessed that he had raped and killed the girl in 1994.


In September 2013, Wang's judgement was changed to harbouring Li, and his sentence was reduced to three years imprisonment.


Recently, Mr Wang received compensation for the years of wrongful imprisonment.


Authorities also treated him to a meal in a restaurant and gave him a flat to live in for free.


Married when he was sentenced and the father of a child, his wife divorced him when he was convicted of rape and murder.


Now he has decided that he would like another wife - and the marriage proposals are flooding in.


He said drily: 'I am saddened that it has less to do with me and more with my money. I think I will rather stay single.'


Original report here


　


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