Andrew Malkinson's rape conviction quashed after 20-year fight

A antheral whose rape condemnation has been overturned aft a 20-year combat has said the past 2 decades felt similar helium had been "kidnapped by the state".

Mr Malkinson, 57, said: "I was guiltless and yet they listened."

"But I person been guiltless each along, for each of those 20 years that came earlier today," helium said."Nothing immoderate constabulary officer, tribunal oregon committee said astir maine since 2003 changed that.

"It has taken astir 20 years to transportation my kidnappers to fto maine go."

Overturning his conviction, Lord Justice Holroyd said Mr Malkinson could "leave the tribunal escaped and nary longer beryllium taxable to the conditions of licence".

Police besides apologised for what they described arsenic a "grave miscarriage of justice"

Mr Malkinson was recovered blameworthy of raping a pistillate pursuing a proceedings successful 2003 and sentenced to beingness with a minimum word of 7 years.

However, helium served a further 10 years successful jailhouse aft his tariff expired.

His barrister Edward Henry KC told the tribunal this was due to the fact that Mr Malkinson would ne'er "falsely confess to abhorrent crimes which helium did not commit".

Mr Malkinson antecedently applied doubly for his lawsuit to beryllium reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) but helium was turned down, yet being released from situation successful December 2020.

At the clip of his trial, determination was nary DNA grounds linking him to the transgression and the prosecution's lawsuit against him was based solely connected recognition evidence.

After his release, advancements successful technological techniques allowed his ineligible team, supported by ineligible foundation Appeal, to supply caller investigation that formed uncertainty connected his condemnation to the CCRC.

The assemblage past commissioned its ain investigating which recovered that DNA from the victim's covering matched different antheral connected the nationalist constabulary database.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aboriginal conceded Mr Malkinson's condemnation was unsafe due to the fact that caller grounds pointed to different man, who the tribunal ordered tin lone beryllium identified arsenic Mr B.

Both the CPS and Greater Manchester Police confirmed successful May they would not contention a caller appeal.

Police said successful January that a antheral had been arrested and released nether probe successful airy of the caller information, but nary determination had been made connected whether helium volition beryllium charged.

Speaking extracurricular the court, Mr Malkinson said: "When a assemblage finds you blameworthy erstwhile you are innocent, world does not change.

"You cognize you did not perpetrate the crime, but each the radical astir you commencement surviving successful a mendacious phantasy beingness and dainty you arsenic if you are guilty."

Opening the entreaty earlier, Mr Henry said: "This is the astir troubling lawsuit which whitethorn person wide implications for the medication of transgression justice.

"This is simply a historical lawsuit - and a historical injustice.

"Grave failures that indispensable prevarication astatine the doorway of GMP that wholly undermined a just trial."

"No-one other should person to spell done what Mr Malkinson has endured."

Lord Justice Holroyde said different points argued by Mr Malkinson's ineligible team, astir "crucial" worldly that was not disclosed astatine the clip of his trial, "raised a fig of important and important points".

He said the tribunal would instrumentality clip to see them and springiness a determination connected them aboriginal successful writing.

GMP's Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Jackson said the unit was "truly sorry" to Mr Malkinson implicit the "grave miscarriage of justice".

She said the unit was "also profoundly atrocious to the unfortunate of this crime, who not lone suffered an horrific trauma 20 years ago, but besides relived the acquisition during a transgression trial, and present whitethorn endure further harm caused by learning that the existent offender has not yet been brought to justice".

Cases similar Mr Malkinson's were "thankfully precise rare", she said, but added that the unit had and would proceed to "fully co-operate with immoderate further reviews and enactment volition beryllium taken if it is recovered that thing could person been done differently".

She said she had offered to conscionable Mr Malkinson "to personally present this apology".

"We are determined to enactment with our colleagues successful the CPS to guarantee each caller grounds is afloat examined and that the idiosyncratic genuinely liable is convicted," she said.

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