Wrongly jailed Malkinson tells BBC: ‘I’ve been cheated, very badly cheated’

38 minutes agoGeorge Sandeman

Pete Milson

Andrew Malkinson has told the BBC he felt relief but also anger after the man responsible for the rape he was wrongly jailed for was finally convicted.

For 20 years, Malkinson was blamed for a brutal 2003 attack in Greater Manchester, serving more than 17 years in prison in what would become one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

In his first broadcast interview since Paul Quinn was convicted of rape last month, Malkinson said: “I’ve been cheated, very badly cheated.”

He told the BBC’s Shadow World: Stolen Years podcast he was thankful authorities had “finally got the real perpetrator” and that he was equally relieved for the victim.

“I did think, ‘I wonder how she’s feeling now?'”

He said it had been a quarter of a century of suffering for both of them.

On the day 52-year-old Quinn was found guilty of rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm, Malkinson was in Italy visiting ancient ruins in Rome.

“Anger came bubbling up as well because I’ve been the one that took the full blast of the blame for it for so long,” he said.

He said he had done “somebody else’s punishment” despite the absence of DNA evidence linking him to the crime.

Malkinson, now 60, always protested his innocence but was convicted after he was picked out at a police identity parade.

After many failed attempts to challenge his conviction, it was eventually quashed in 2023 after the Crown Prosecution Service accepted that DNA recovered from the victim’s clothing had to have come from the true attacker – now known to be Quinn.

The Court of Appeal also found that other evidence that could have helped Malkinson’s defence was not disclosed.

Malkinson’s battle for justice is not over. He is waiting for the outcome of a judge-led inquiry into why he was wrongfully convicted. Its findings will be a critical element in his legal battle for compensation.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, the miscarriages of justice body which twice refused to help him, was severely criticised last year in an independent report that listed a catalogue of failings – including not acting on the new DNA evidence when it became aware of it.

Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) handling of his case and the actions of six police officers is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police complaints watchdog.

It is looking at whether officers followed the appropriate processes during the identification of Malkinson as a suspect, whether witnesses were offered incentives to provide evidence, alleged failures to disclose information that might have helped Malkinson’s defence, and if the handling and disposal of evidence was appropriate.

PA

During last month’s legal proceedings, the court heard that the victim had told police during Malkinson’s trial in 2004 that she was not sure if he had been the attacker after seeing him in person.

She said an officer told her she was just feeling nervous and that it was fine for the trial to go ahead. The victim told the court she felt scared at the time and went with what officers told her to do.

For the four-part BBC Radio 4 podcast series, journalists have been following Malkinson as he has attempted to rebuild his life following his release from prison in 2020.

“I’m extremely curious as to why my life was turned upside down like it was,” said Malkinson.

“I can process it then, because then you know what the truth is – the objective truth, not a given truth. And so I can process it and move on eventually, hopefully.”

Quinn, a sex offender, was found guilty of attacking the victim – a young mother – as she walked home through Salford in the early hours of the morning on 19 July 2003.

She was beaten, bitten and her cheekbone was fractured. Quinn then strangled her unconscious and raped her.

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court heard that DNA from Quinn’s saliva was found on a vest the victim was wearing on the night.

His DNA was also recovered in 2023 from a medical instrument used to examine the victim, which had never been tested before. He had also searched online to see how long police kept such samples.

Quinn will be sentenced on 5 June.

DC Jim Partington said GMP is looking at unsolved cases from the past, which Quinn might have been involved in given the extreme violence he exerted in this case.

“I think the likelihood is there probably are other victims,” said Partington. He then added: “There’s three crimes, ranging I think from 2003 to 2010, that have been looked at in detail now… there’s not really any definitive link but we certainly are re-reviewing local crimes.”

GMP have appealed for people who may have come into contact with Quinn to come forward with any information they might have.

GMP

Malkinson also spoke of the mental toll relentlessly protesting his innocence for 23 years had taken on him.

“I get tired of the whole case,” he said. “This has been continuous, really, since 2003. It’s painful to have it constantly there.”

He revealed he had taken breaks from the legal fight, which he said allowed him to “breathe more freely”. One of the places he has visited recently is Australia, where his two half-sisters, whom he had not seen for 35 years, live.

He brought a pair of binoculars with him so he could indulge his love of stargazing.

He said he used to dream of stars when he was in prison but he rarely got a good view of them because of the light pollution from floodlights at HMP Frankland.

“If I figure I live to 80, that’s only 20 years and 20 years will soon pass,” he added. “So I’ve got to make the best of it while I can.”

The full boxset of BBC Radio 4’s Shadow World: Stolen Years is available to listen to now on BBC Sounds.

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