A man who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape says he won’t accept an ‘PR exercise’ apology from the police force that investigated him and slammed them for ‘fighting me every inch of the way’ in the battle to clear his name.
Andrew Malkinson says he as been left ‘haunted’ by his experience of the British justice system after being imprisoned in 2003 for the rape of a woman in Salford, Greater Manchester.
The 57-year-old has since had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal and was released in July this year, after judges found Greater Manchester Police had withheld crucial information from jurors during his trial.
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.
The former security guard is now fighting for compensation after saying the £1million offered by the Government was ‘not enough’ to make up for the years spent behind bars.
Mr Malkinson, pictured with his mother Tricia outside the Royal Courts of Justice after being cleared last month, says he won’t accept the police’s apology
Sarah Jackson (pictured), assistant chief constable at Greater Manchester Police, apologised to Mr Malkinson on behalf of the force
Speaking to The News Agents podcast, Mr Malkinson said he felt an apology he had received from Greater Manchester Police after his conviction was overturned was not genuine.
He said: ‘I think it’s a PR exercise from a corporate entity. They’re not sorry. They’ve fought us every inch of the way.
‘We invited them to join the CCRC application and they point blank refused, I don’t even think they responded.
‘They fought disclosure of the vital evidence that they knew was important. Of course, they must have known its significance.
‘And they fought us all away. So, because it’s been overturned, to say, “Oh, we’re really sorry now.” No.’
He added that he felt police shouldn’t have control of evidence and disclosure.
‘They should concentrate on investigating cases, doing police work,’ he said.
‘There should be a separate body that holds the evidence, so they can’t… deliberately destroy pivotal evidence.
‘I mean, the victim’s clothing, that’s obviously vital to preserve… I think they deliberately did that because they knew by then I was strenuously continuing to maintain my innocence after 10 years and onwards.’
In a ruling three Court of Appeal judges said Mr Malkinson’s conviction was unsafe because of failures to disclose evidence.
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Edward Henry KC, for Mr Malkinson, previously described these as ‘deplorable disclosure failures, which mostly lay at the door of the Greater Manchester Police’.
Mr Malkinson was found guilty of the 2003 attack on a woman in Greater Manchester, but has since had his conviction quashed
Mr Malkinson stayed in prison for an additional 10 years because he maintained he was innocent. Pictured: An E-fit of the suspect in the rape case (left) and a mugshot of Malkinson shortly after he was arrested (right)
They include police photographs of the victim’s left hand, which supported her evidence that she broke a nail scratching the face of her attacker, and the fact the two eyewitnesses who identified Mr Malkinson had convictions for dishonesty offences.
None of this was available to Mr Malkinson’s defence team at his trial and Mr Henry said the failure to disclose the photographs ‘deprived’ Mr Malkinson of his ‘strongest defence point – his lack of any facial injury’.
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’.
Following the decision GMP’s assistant chief constable Sarah Jackson apologised to Mr Malkinson, saying: ‘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.’
On the podcast Mr Malkinson added that the only way the authorities could make up for his time in prison would be to ‘give me a bunch of money’.
The Government has offered him £1million, but the newly-freed man says this is not enough.
He said: ‘Obviously, I want compensating because they can’t give me back what they’ve stolen and it’s not just the time taken. It’s what it represents.
‘It’s constant fear, pain, anxiety, misery, longing, yearning for freedom and hoping that something will come along to prove it.
‘So, it’s a very joyless void. No joy, no happiness, no love. And it’s a horrific existence. Yeah, I want compensating for that.
He added: ‘I want my freedom back fully. I want my economic freedom back. I want my compensation… There’s still fights to be fought, so I’m not free of it…
‘The door hasn’t shut yet. I’m still fighting, I’m haunted by it. I think I need therapy, to be honest…
‘I want to resume traveling while I’m still able bodied. I’m getting on a bit. I’m 57. I want to travel to lots of places in the world I’ve never seen before. India, for example.
‘I want to go to Australia to see my sisters. I haven’t seen them for 33 years. I just want to travel and feel that sense of freedom again where you’ve got no worries.’
