Greater Manchester Police have been criticised by the Court of Appeal over withholding evidence that could have breached Andrew Malkinson’s right to a fair trial
Andrew Malkinson, who spent over 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, has won his two-decade long fight to clear his name after Court of Appeal judges today quashed Mr Malkinson’s 2004 rape conviction, accepting new DNA evidence inculpating another man rendered it unsafe.
The Court has now decided they will also allow the appeal based on police disclosure failures which Mr Malkinson’s lawyers say could have prevented his wrongful conviction.
Mr Malkinson was convicted by a 10-2 majority jury verdict of the attack and rape of a woman in Greater Manchester in July 2003.
The prosecution’s case at trial relied entirely on identification evidence and was unsupported by any forensic or CCTV evidence.
Years later, Mr Malkinson’s legal team at the charity APPEAL discovered that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had withheld material undermining the identification evidence.
Giving its full judgment today, the Court of Appeal said that the Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) failure to disclose the following evidence to Mr Malkinson’s defence provided a further basis for overturning his conviction:
Photographs showing the victim’s hands contradicted medical evidence used to cast doubt on her account of causing a “deep scratch” to her attacker’s face.
Mr Malkinson had no trace of any such injury seen by police officers day after the incident.
Meanwhile The criminal convictions, including for dishonesty offences, of key prosecution witnesses.breached Mr Malkinson’s right to a fair trial, the court said.
