United Kingdom
52-year-old Briton Paul Quinn has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for a horrific rape from 2003, for which the wrong man was behind bars for years. The case is considered one of the biggest judicial blunders in the United Kingdom in recent years. And it doesn’t stop there: the punishment of the real perpetrator receives a lot of criticism, because (if released) he may spend less time in jail than the innocent man.
Journalist at HLN
The real perpetrator, Paul Quinn, walked free, while Andrew Malkinson (60) spent no less than 17 years in prison for facts he always denied. Malkinson was sentenced to life in prison in 2004 after the victim pointed him out during a police lineup. He then worked as a security guard in a shopping center.
The facts took place in 2003 in Salford, England. In the early morning, a 33-year-old woman was harassed on her way home by three men who shouted after her. One of them claimed he had a weapon and forced her into the bushes, away from the street and out of sight of passers-by. A particularly violent attack followed.
The man strangled the victim until she lost consciousness and then raped her twice. The woman suffered serious injuries as a result: a broken cheekbone and injuries to her face, neck, chest, arms and legs. According to the judge, it was “a miracle” that she survived the attack.
Andrew Malkinson, a security guard at a local shopping centre, was arrested because he matched the description given by the victim. Later she also pointed to him as the perpetrator. But doubts soon arose about his guilt. The victim later stated during the trial that she told an officer at the time that she was not completely sure of the identification. That uncertainty was dismissed by the police as a result of stress and nerves. Despite the verdicts, Malkinson was convicted and ended up behind bars.
New DNA research
It was not until 2023 that his conviction was overturned after new DNA research directly linked Paul Quinn to the rape. Thanks to new genetic techniques, lawyers found DNA traces of Quinn on the victim’s clothing. Moreover, the man turned out to have been known as a sex offender since he was 12. He did not recognize the victim from 2003. He briefly suggested that sex might have been consensual.
Quinn was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the court in Manchester on Friday for two rapes, strangulation and serious assault. The man, father of six children, can only be eligible for parole after fourteen years. “You enjoyed your freedom for years at the expense of an innocent man,” Judge Robert Bright said sharply during the sentencing.
I hope he’s in prison longer than me. Anything less than that is not justice
Malkinson reacted angrily to Quinn’s sentence because he was not given a life sentence. “I find it insulting that this violent, depraved individual – who had no problem with me being vilified for 20 years and wrongfully imprisoned for over 17 years for his crime – has received a lenient sentence than I, an innocent man,” Malkinson said. “I hope he is in custody longer than I am,” he said through the organization Appeal, which fights against judicial errors. “Anything less than that is not justice.”
The case continues to cause a stir in Britain. A public investigation into the errors in the file is now underway. A 2024 review found that Malkinson could possibly have been acquitted a decade earlier.
Five former Greater Manchester Police officers and one active police officer are under investigation. Two top figures from the British body that investigates judicial errors also resigned. The police have now officially apologized to Malkinson.