Documents have revealed that Greater Manchester Police knew three years after his conviction that there were issues over the evidence that convicted Andrew Malkinson for rape
Police knew that the DNA of another man was identified yet Malkinson was to serve 17 years in prison even though the evidence could have led to an appeal just three years after his conviction
In 2004, Andy Malkinson was convicted by a 10-2 majority jury verdict of the July 2003 rape of a 33-year-old woman in Greater Manchester despite the absence of any forensic evidence linking him to the attack and notable discrepancies with the descriptions provided by eyewitnesses.
He then spent a decade longer in prison than he might have done had he admitted his guilt.
He was finally released on a strict life licence in December 2020.
His conviction was referred in January this year for a fresh appeal hearing after DNA was linked to an alternative suspect and was quashed last month
Now case files released to Malkinson as he fought his conviction, and now seen by the Guardian newspaper and the BBC reveal that police and prosecutors knew forensic testing in 2007 had found a searchable male DNA profile on the female victim’s vest top that did not match Malkinson’s.
In December 2009, the scientists told Crown Prosecution Service lawyers and Greater Manchester Police detectives they were sure they had identified DNA from an unknown man’s saliva.
A senior CPS lawyer wrote in his notes: “If it is assumed that the saliva came from the offender, then it does not derive from Malkinson saying that “This is surprising because the area of the clothing that the saliva was recovered from was crime-specific.”
