A murder case has been referred to the Court of Appeal after an investigation by Bristol University law students.

The referral is the first in the UK for students working on the Innocence Project, which involves reviewing real cases concerning long-term prisoners who maintain their innocence, have exhausted the criminal appeals system and have no legal aid.

Simon Hall, now 31, from Ipswich, claims he was wrongly convicted of murdering one of his mother's friends, Joan Albert, 79, who was stabbed to death in her home in Capel St Mary, Suffolk, in December 2001.

The jury in the murder trial heard that fingerprints, footprints and DNA evidence found at the murder scene did not match the defendant's.

His conviction hinged almost solely on the basis of black flock fibres found at the scene, in his vehicle and at his parents' home.

The fibres were later said to be indistinguishable from those found at the scene of the crime.

Members of the Innocence Project began investigating the case in 2006. The Bristol University team sought to demonstrate why the fibre evidence was problematic and to find new ways to prove Hall's innocence.

The investigation, led by the project's casework manager Gabe Tan, involved the team volunteering hundreds of hours to produce various submissions to the Criminal Cases Review Commission on the limitations of the fibres evidence and on the possible use of new DNA techniques on biological samples found at the crime scene.

The team also uncovered new evidence that they say could conclusively prove Hall's innocence. This evidence cannot be revealed yet for legal reasons.

Hall's wife, Stephanie, said: "We're all thrilled – Simon, me and Simon's family – and hopeful the conviction will be overturned and the truth will come out in the end."

A CCRC spokesman said: "The commission has decided to refer the case to the Court of Appeal because it believes that new forensic evidence is capable of undermining key forensic evidence presented at the trial."