Wrongly jailed Malkinson tells BBC: 'I've been cheated, very badly cheated'

Andrew Malkinson has told the BBC he felt relief but also anger after the man responsible for the rape he was wrongly jailed for was finally convicted.

For 20 years, Malkinson was blamed for a brutal 2003 attack in Greater Manchester, serving more than 17 years in prison in what would become one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

In his first broadcast interview since Paul Quinn was convicted of rape last month, Malkinson said: "I've been cheated, very badly cheated."

He told the BBC's Shadow World: Stolen Years podcast he was thankful authorities had "finally got the real perpetrator" and that he was equally relieved for the victim.

"I did think, 'I wonder how she's feeling now?'"

He said it had been a quarter of a century of suffering for both of them.

On the day 52-year-old Quinn was found guilty of rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm, Malkinson was in Italy visiting ancient ruins in Rome.

"Anger came bubbling up as well because I've been the one that took the full blast of the blame for it for so long," he said.

He said he had done "somebody else's punishment" despite the absence of DNA evidence linking him to the crime.

Malkinson, now 60, always protested his innocence but was convicted after he was picked out at a police identity parade.

After many failed attempts to challenge his conviction, it was eventually quashed in 2023 after the Crown Prosecution Service accepted that DNA recovered from the victim's clothing had to have come from the true attacker - now known to be Quinn.

The Court of Appeal also found that other evidence that could have helped Malkinson's defence was not disclosed.

Malkinson's battle for justice is not over. He is waiting for the outcome of a judge-led inquiry into why he was wrongfully convicted. Its findings will be a critical element in his legal battle for compensation.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, the miscarriages of justice body which twice refused to help him, was severely criticised last year in an independent report that listed a catalogue of failings - including not acting on the new DNA evidence when it became aware of it.

Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) handling of his case and the actions of six police officers is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police complaints watchdog.

It is looking at whether officers followed the appropriate processes during the identification of Malkinson as a suspect, whether witnesses were offered incentives to provide evidence, alleged failures to disclose information that might have helped Malkinson's defence, and if the handling and disposal of evidence was appropriate.

During last month's legal proceedings, the court heard that the victim had told police during Malkinson's trial in 2004 that she was not sure if he had been the attacker after seeing him in person.