Andrew Malkinson: Man wrongly jailed for 17 years hits out at ‘mendacity police’ and says he was ‘kidnapped by the state’
A person who spent 17 years wrongly locked up for rape has mentioned he was “kidnapped by the state” and compelled to stay a “false fantasy” by those that insisted he was responsible.
Andrew Malkinson mentioned police and courts had repeatedly ignored his pleas – till Wednesday’s Court of Appeal choice exonerated him resulting from DNA proof linking the crime to another person.
“Today we told this court I was innocent and finally they listened – but I have been innocent all along,” he mentioned.
In an emotional assertion, he accused Greater Manchester Police (GMP) of being “liars” and mentioned the final decade-and-a-half had been a nightmare, the place he usually puzzled if he can be killed or would take his personal life in jail.
“As a minority of one, you are forced to live their false fantasy,” he instructed reporters.
Mr Malkinson mentioned his arrest was successfully him being “kidnapped by the state”.
“It has taken nearly 20 years to persuade my kidnappers to let me go… After every parole hearing I sat before a panel who shook their heads at me, considering me to be dangerous,” he mentioned.
“All that time the real perpetrator was free.”
No DNA proof ever linked Mr Malkinson to the crime, with the prosecution case primarily based solely on contested eyewitness identification.
His case was referred to the Court of Appeal on the premise of latest DNA proof implicating one other suspect, who has since been arrested.
GMP and the Crown Prosecution Service didn’t struggle the attraction and the 57-year-old’s conviction was quashed by three senior judges.
‘Murdered within the kitchen’
Mr Malkinson mentioned regardless of being cleared, he was now “jobless, homeless, expected to slip back into the world with no acknowledgement of the hole they opened up in my life”.
He mentioned: “I spent 17 years on my guard against every threat; 17 years counting down the minutes to lock up so I could be behind my door and safe from other prisoners, safe from my own mind, imagining I would die there.
“Perhaps murdered within the kitchen by a fellow prisoner, or left to die of hypoglycaemia in my cell within the evening; or being pushed insane by the system and dying at my very own hand.”
He said the police, prison service and probation system had insisted time after time that he was a liar.
“They claimed I used to be in denial and made me serve an additional 10 years in jail as a result of I’d not make a false confession,” mentioned Mr Malkinson.
Read extra:
‘Stripped and left topless in a cell, I was drugged and sexually assaulted by Greater Manchester Police’
Chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police facing criminal investigation into ‘serious allegations of sexual offences’
With anger in his voice, he mentioned: “I’m not in denial, I’m not a liar – however I’ll inform you who’s: Greater Manchester Police are liars! And they’re in denial…”
After the acquittal, GMP’s assistant chief constable apologised to Mr Malkinson, saying the force was “profoundly sorry” for his “horrific trauma”.
“We are truly sorry to Mr Malkinson that he is the victim of such a grave miscarriage of justice, in being convicted of a crime he did not commit and serving a 17-year custodial sentence,” mentioned Sarah Jackson in a press release.
“Whilst we hope this outcome gives him a long overdue sense of justice, we acknowledge that it does not return the years he has lost. I have offered to meet with him to personally deliver this apology.”
Mr Malkinson, who was talking outdoors the Royal Courts of Justice in London, additionally instantly addressed the rape sufferer.
“I am so sorry you were attacked and brutalised that night by that man,” he mentioned.
“I am not the person that attacked you – but what happened to me is not your fault.
“I’m so sorry if my struggle for the reality, as I knew it to be, has precipitated you further trauma. I’m so sorry the system has allow you to down. It allow us to each down.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org within the UK. In the US, name the Samaritans department in your space or 1 (800) 273-TALK