Andy Malkinson

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Andy Malkinson was convicted of rape after two witnesses claimed to have seen Malkinson following the victim. At the time there was no DNA evidence, so the prosecution case was reliant on identification. The victim picked him out of an identification parade and confirmed to the jury that she was 100% sure that Malkinson was the person who raped her. Despite pleading not guilty, he was found guilty by a jury with a majority verdict of 10-2. In February 2004, Malkinson was sentenced to life imprisonment.

After being convicted, Malkinson appealed on the grounds that there were weaknesses in the identification evidence and contaminated swabs. In July 2006, the Court of Appeal decided that these were not strong enough grounds to overturn the conviction. In 2007, the victim’s vest top was tested again for DNA, and they found a man’s DNA, but it did not match Malkinson’s DNA. Malkinson made an application to the CCRC which was rejected in February 2012, on the grounds that the DNA evidence was not a strong enough reason to reinvestigate. After 7 years imprisonment, Malkinson was up for parole but was denied as he declined to participate in behaviour group projects as he had refused to discuss in detail a crime he did not commit.

In May 2014, APPEAL took on Malkinson’s case. They found that the Greater Manchester Police had destroyed the victim’s clothing in 2016, despite having a legal duty to preserve the clothing for at least 30 years. In December 2020, Malkinson was released by the parole board on a life license.

APPEAL later found out that jury had been misled about the status of the two eyewitnesses (Michael Seward and Beverly Craig). They were presented to the jury as honest eyewitnesses, but they had amassed convictions for 26 dishonest offences between them. Also, Michael Seward was a heroin user and had been arrested by the police both on the date he came forward as a witness and when he picked out Malkinson as the man he had seen the night the victim was attacked.

In January 2023, the CCRC decided to refer the case back to the Court of Appeal based on the new DNA evidence which matched Mr. B (whose DNA had been uploaded to the system since 2012) to the DNA found on the victim’s clothing. In July 2023, 20 years after his initial arrest, Malkinson’s conviction was successfully overturned. Malkinson has not received any compensation and suffers from panic attacks as a result of his wrongful conviction.

View Press (www.bbc.co.uk)

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