A man who served 17 years in jail in England for a rape he did not commit has called an apology by the police force that handled the original investigation “meaningless”.
Andrew Malkinson (57) was found guilty of raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003, and the next year was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years.
Mr Malkinson served 10 further years because he maintained his innocence, time he said took an “extremely heavy toll” on his psyche and during which he “contemplated suicide many times”.
His conviction was quashed by senior judges at the court of appeal on Wednesday after DNA evidence linking another man to the crime came to light.
Greater Manchester Police issued an apology to him following the ruling. Assistant chief constable Sarah Jackson said: “We are truly sorry to Mr Malkinson that he is the victim of such a grave miscarriage of justice in being convicted of a crime he did not commit and serving a 17-year custodial sentence. Whilst we hope this outcome gives him a long overdue sense of justice, we acknowledge that it does not return the years he has lost. I have offered to meet with him to personally deliver this apology.”
However, Mr Malkinson told BBC’s Newsnight programme: “The Greater Manchester Police apology….it’s meaningless to me, absolutely meaningless. An apology without accountability, what is that? It’s nothing, it’s nothing, it means nothing.”
He also said the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates miscarriages of justice in England, investigated his case only after having evidence handed to it “on a platter”.
Mr Malkinson tried to get the body to investigate twice previously, but his bid was turned down.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday that it felt as though he had been “kidnapped by the state”.
“It’s taken an extremely heavy toll on my person, my psyche, my psychology, my being, my soul. I can’t articulate how I even managed to get through it. I was in total shock for the first even a few years. I contemplated suicide many times.”
After the ruling Mr Malkinson told reporters outside the Royal Courts of Justice: “Since I was arrested in 2003, the police, the prison system and Probation Service have been calling me a liar because I denied that I committed the crime. They claimed I was ‘in denial’ and made me serve an extra 10 more years in prison because I would not make a false confession. I am not a liar. I am not in denial but I will tell you who is – Greater Manchester Police are liars, and they are in denial... Greater Manchester Police have been scrambling to cover up how they wrongfully convicted me for 20 years.”
Addressing the victim of the crime he did not commit, he said: “I am so sorry that you were attacked and brutalised that night by that man. I am not the person who attacked you but what happened to me is not your fault.”
Overturning Mr Malkinson’s convictions for two counts of rape and one of choking or strangling with intent to commit rape, Lord Justice Holroyde said he could “leave the court free and no longer be subject to the conditions of licence”.
At the time of Mr Malkinson’s trial there was no DNA evidence linking him to the crime and the prosecution case against him was based only on identification evidence. But a DNA sample, held by the forensic archive, was tested and found last October to link to another man, who has since been arrested.
A decision on whether he will be charged is awaited. – PA