Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland calls for a public inquiry into the case of Andrew Malkinson who spent 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit
- Andrew Malkinson, now 57, spent 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit
A former justice secretary has called for a public inquiry after it emerged an innocent man remained in jail for a further 13 years despite exonerating DNA evidence.
Sir Robert Buckland said the justice system could ‘not command confidence’ if it ‘indulges or is complicit in miscarriages of justice’ such as in the case of Andrew Malkinson.
Mr Malkinson, now 57, was jailed for life with a minimum of seven years after being convicted of rape in Salford in 2003.
His refusal to admit responsibility for the attack he did not commit resulted in an additional decade spent behind bars before his release in 2020.
He likened his ordeal, described as one of Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice, to being ‘kidnapped by the state’ after his conviction was finally quashed last month.
Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland (pictured) has called for a public inquiry after it emerged an innocent man remained in jail for a further 13 years despite exonerating DNA evidence
Sir Robert said the justice system could ‘not command confidence’ if it ‘indulges or is complicit in miscarriages of justice’
Mr Malkinson, now 57, was jailed for life with a minimum of seven years after being convicted of rape in Salford in 2003
It came after DNA evidence from the case was partially matched to another man in October last year.
Now newly released case files have revealed this DNA discrepancy was discovered in 2007 during an evidence review but was not investigated further.
Records showed Mr Malkinson’s legal team was notified of the findings in a meeting between the Forensic Science Service, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Greater Manchester Police in December 2009.
However, the CPS ‘did not see that there was a need to do any further work on the file’ unless the case was brought to appeal.
Speaking to Times Radio, former justice secretary and solicitor general Sir Robert said: ‘This merits a full investigation and I agree with [former solicitor general] Lord Garnier in the need for an inquiry into this particular case.’
He added that the DNA revelation ‘should have stood out to anybody as a very important new piece of evidence that needed to be disclosed fully and would have either formed the basis of an acquittal at trial…or a strong case in the Court of Appeal to say that the conviction was unsafe’.
Mr Malkinson has called for the head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Helen Pitcher, to resign, claiming: ‘If the CCRC had investigated properly, it would have spared me years in prison.
It seems like the very body set up to address the system’s fallibility is labouring under the delusion that it is itself infallible. How many more people has it failed?’
A CPS spokesman said: ‘Evidence of a new DNA profile found on the victim’s clothing in 2007 was not ignored… Searches of the DNA databases were conducted to identify any other possible suspects. At that time there were no matches and therefore no further investigation could be carried out.’
The CCRC said: ‘We note the observations that have been made in relation to Mr Malkinson’s case and are considering the Court of Appeal judgment.’
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