Andrew Malkinson: Unfair for wrongfully convicted inmates to pay again jail board and lodging prices, Rishi Sunak says
Rishi Sunak believes it’s unfair that wrongly convicted prisoners ought to must pay again residing prices for his or her time in jail, Downing Street has mentioned.
It comes amid considerations a person who spent 17 years in jail for a rape he didn’t commit faces deductions from any compensation for his board and lodging whereas behind bars.
Andrew Malkinson was wrongly discovered responsible of raping a girl in Greater Manchester in 2003 and the subsequent yr was jailed for all times with a minimal of seven years.
The 57-year-old served 10 extra years as a result of he maintained his innocence.
His conviction was quashed by senior judges on the Court of Appeal final week after DNA proof linking one other man to the crime got here to mild.
Asked about considerations the residing prices might be deducted from any compensation Mr Malkinson receives, the prime minister’s press secretary mentioned there’s an unbiased board that critiques after which makes the choice.
“In principle, for someone who is wrongly convicted, I don’t think the prime minister thinks it would be fair for them to have to repay costs, particularly as they have wrongfully been kept in prison for something that they didn’t do,” she mentioned.
The present guidelines may be traced again to a 2007 ruling by the House of Lords at a time when it was the nation’s highest courtroom.
Mr Sunak “has been speaking with the Home Office and others in government to establish the facts and to make sure the approach is right and fair,” his press secretary added.
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Malkinson fears paying for jail board and lodging
Mr Malkinson has said he feels “sickened” by the thought of getting to pay for jail “board and lodging” ought to he obtain compensation.
He was launched from jail in December 2020 however was underneath shut watch by police and his title was on the intercourse offenders register.
He has described his present monetary hardship, revealing he was “living on benefits” and criticising the present path to compensation.
“I feel very strongly about this. Somehow the prison service has lobbied the government in the early 2000s,” he informed the BBC.
“The result is that even if you fight tooth and nail and gain compensation you then have to pay the prison service a large chunk of that for so-called ‘board and lodgings’, which is so abhorrent to me.
“I’m sickened by it.”
Compensation thought of on case-by-case foundation
Although Mr Malkinson has had all expenses in opposition to him dropped, he nonetheless has not acquired a declaration of innocence from the Court of Appeal – with out which he can not declare compensation.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) informed Sky News compensation for miscarriage of justice circumstances is assessed on a case-by-case foundation by a MoJ caseworker. If compensation is to be awarded the quantity is set by an unbiased assessor, Dame Linda Dobbs.
The eligibility is set by the secretary of state solely as soon as an utility has been submitted.
The MoJ mentioned the assessor may “consider deductions from the total compensation to reflect the particular circumstances of an individual case” together with any “substantial savings likely to have been made on the basis of living costs not incurred while in custody” – for instance a prisoner not having to pay hire on outdoors lodging.