PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In that article the detective told me: "I cannot stress enough how urgent the situation is. The man must be caught soon. We should hear today from forensic scientists whether DNA has been recovered from the scene." Today there is deep irony in that quote. No DNA was identified in 2003 - it would be nearly two decades later - and it would pave the way to proving Mr Malkinson's innocence, not his guilt, but only after he had spent 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Mr Malkinson's life changed when two neighbourhood officers in the Litttle Hulton and Walkden area stopped him as he rode pillion on an off-road motorbike with the son of a couple he was staying with at the time in Walkden. The officers thought Mr Malkinson looked like the man in the e-fit and he was arrested. A judge would later recommend the two beat officers should received a commendation. Mr Malkinson has since described his arrest as being "kidnapped by the state". He was put on an ID parade and picked out by the victim and another witness.
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "It prompted me to rexamine the coverage I gave the original rape attack. I saw that the description I was given by police at the time of the attacker did not match Mr Malkinson. Then Ms Bolton also told us in 2022 that two witnesses who gave crucial evidence for the prosecution had 16 convictions for 38 offences between them - including dishonesty - this was not revealed at the court case in 2004. In Mr Malkinson’s case, APPEAL was forced to take Greater Manchester Police to court twice in order to obtain vital evidence which had been withheld from the defence at his original trial. In addition, the police unlawfully destroyed key exhibits in the case. My doubts were already increasing about the credibility of the conviction and the quality of the police investigation when there was a dramatic development." The revelation by Mr Malkinson's supporters, APPEAL, that the DNA breakthrough had linked another person to the case was seismic - as was the arrest by GMP of a new suspect, who remains under investigation but on bail."
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STORY: "'I watched an innocent man sent down for life for rape - this is how it happened'", by Manchester Evening News Chief Reporter Heal Keeling, published on July 29, 2023. (Neal Keeling has been Chief Reporter since 2010. He joined the Manchester Evening News in 1987 and covers crime, Salford and the fire service. He also specialises in in-depth features.)
SUB-HEADING: "This week Andrew Malkinson was finally cleared of rape - years after serving a 17 year sentence for a crime he didn't commit. The M.E.N's chief reporter Neal Keeling followed the case from the beginning. Here, he looks at how a terrible miscarriage of justice unfolded."
GIST: "It was, I thought, the conclusion of a robust, driven, and successful police investigation. A jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted Andrew Malkinson of the brutal rape of a mother-of-two on a motorway embankment at Little Hulton. Salford.
The jury were not unanimous in their decision. Ten of them thought he was guilty and two didn't. As the verdict was delivered I was sitting on the press bench in court that day, February 10, 2004.
As he left the dock Mr Malkinson looked straight at me. His angry expression I interpreted as contempt for the press, who were about to write that he, a dangerous man, was facing a potential life sentence. There was both rage and bewilderment in his eyes. Now I know why - he was an innocent man.
Yet at the time the conviction appeared understandable, if not rock solid. There was no forensic evidence to put Mr Malkinson at the scene.
The prosecution's theory was this was because the attacker was forensically aware and had worn a condom.
And the victim, told the court she was "100 percent" certain that the man in the dock and her attacker were the same person.
In the immediate aftermath of Mr Malkinson's conviction I obtained quotes from a senior detective who told me: "Malkinson is a very dangerous man. The victim was left with horrific injuries and could easily have died. It is through sheer determination that she managed to survive and help us bring Malkinson to justice."
Crucially he also said: "I cannot praise her enough for the bravery and courage she has shown. She worked with officers, re-living the attack to help us build up an accurate description of the offender."
That description, with colossal hindsight, was the first indication of a flawed investigation. This week, having already served 17 years behind bars, Andrew Malkinson, now 57, was finally cleared by the Court of Appeal, the stain on his name erased, his rape conviction quashed.
My involvement in the case began a few days after the rape which happened in the early hours of July 19th 2003. The victim, then 33, had rowed with her boyfriend at his home. She left the property and he assumed she had gone for a short walk. But she had decided to walk to her home several miles away.
On the way, she walked down Armitage Avenue in Little Hulton and a man shouted from bushes: "I suggest you come into the bushes, I have a gun pointing towards you".
She carried on walking, but, at a motorway bridge where Cleggs Lane in Little Hulton meets Buckley Lane in Farnworth, she was grabbed by a man who had stalked her for two thirds of a mile. During the assault the woman suffered a fractured cheek bone, an injury to her voice box, and a laceration to her breast.
I met a detective at the scene of the attack who was photographed by the MEN photographer at the exact spot where the rapist struck. The officer and a colleague told me the victim had been choked almost to the point of death, then raped as she lay unconscious. At that time the crime was being treated as attempted murder as well.
One of the detectives told me: "I believe this was a calculated attack. The man has lain in wait for a victim and found one. In my 26 years experience as a police officer this is one of the worst cases I have had to deal with. I think the man is local. The woman has been able to tell us he had a Bolton accent and there is no suggestion he had a vehicle."
The officers told me the victim had remained unconsicious for 30 minutes before staggering up the embankment and walking towards Farnworth where she was found by a passer-by who helped her. The attack happened between 4.30am and 5.30am. GMP gave me a description of the rapist provided by the victim.
He was described as 5ft 8in, with a "body-builder type" physique; in his early to mid 30s. He had a flat stomach and muscles, olive skin, and thick wavy dark brown or black hair. His chest was shiny and hairless.
Mr Malkinson is 5ft 11in, has chest hair, and is originally from Grimsby. He had been living in the Walkden area for only a short time after moving back to the UK after living abroad.
The embankment where the rape took place is where Little Hulton, a mining village which became a Salford overspill estate, meets the edge of Bolton at Farnworth. Accents in that area vary - from Mancunian to broad Bolton. The victim's evidence that the attacker had a Bolton accent seemed highly plausible.
At the time I was the MEN's Salford district reporter and my information was gleaned directly from officers - unlike today where GMP's Press Office issue written statements about incidents.
The rape was a major story and I could sense the urgency with which police were seeking information.
A few days after the initial appeal for information I spoke to police again and wrote a second article, published on July 24th 2003. A detective revealed to me that the victim had told police how she thought she would die and that during the frenzied asssault she thought of her two children and feared she would never see them again.
In that article the detective told me: "I cannot stress enough how urgent the situation is. The man must be caught soon. We should hear today from forensic scientists whether DNA has been recovered from the scene."
Today there is deep irony in that quote. No DNA was identified in 2003 - it would be nearly two decades later - and it would pave the way to proving Mr Malkinson's innocence, not his guilt, but only after he had spent 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit.
Ten days after the rape, police issued an e-fit of the suspect based on the victim's description.
Mr Malkinson's life changed when two neighbourhood officers in the Litttle Hulton and Walkden area stopped him as he rode pillion on an off-road motorbike with the son of a couple he was staying with at the time in Walkden.
The officers thought Mr Malkinson looked like the man in the e-fit and he was arrested. A judge would later recommend the two beat officers should received a commendation.
Mr Malkinson has since described his arrest as being "kidnapped by the state". He was put on an ID parade and picked out by the victim and another witness.
In 2004 Mr Malkinson was given a life sentence after being convicted of rape and attempted strangulation, with a minimum tarrif of seven years. His earliest release date was 2010 but he was actually released in late 2020 after refusing to admit the crime.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission twice refused to refer the case to the Court of Appeal before finally doing so. This week the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction after hearing that a breakthrough in DNA evidence had resulted in a new suspect being arrested, after DNA was found on fragments of clothing belonging to the victim.
You have to greatly admire Mr Malkinson's refusal to take the easy option and admit he committed the crime - just to regain his freedom. His stoicism is remarkable.
The case warrants a wide-ranging investigation - it was in hindsight a total failure of the criminal justice system. At the time I did my job - reported on the nature of the attack; the police appeal, the court case, and wrote of Malkinson being described by police as "a dangerous man" and a "monster" by the woman who was raped.
Years later I started writing about his campaign to clear his name.
When reporting on the case it was my duty, as it is of all journalists, to adhere to the judicial process. He had been convicted by a jury and in the eyes of the law he was a convicted rapist.
It was the emergence of new evidence that cast Andrew Malkinson's cries of innocence in a new light - and the original case in an unforgiving one.
From December 2020 onwards the M.E.N, including myself, began reporting on the discovery on new DNA evidence which could potentially clear his name.
Over the coming three years a momentum grew, fuelled by APPEAL, the organisation which investigated Mr Malkinson's case, and I wrote further articles detailing the progress being made.
In May 2022 I quoted Mr Malkinson's lawyer, Emily Bolton, who told us: "GMP should accept that they got the wrong man and do everything in its power to help put this terrible miscarriage of justice right.
"Rather than spend taxpayers' money on a court battle aimed at avoiding having to hand over evidence, GMP should put resources into identifying and bringing to justice the real rapist.
"The people of Greater Manchester deserve a police force that prioritises public safety over covering up its past mistakes. It is absolutely essential that GMP acknowledge what went wrong in the original investigation.
"If GMP refuses to learn lessons from its mistakes, how can the people of Greater Manchester have confidence in the force? Unless GMP addresses its failings in this case, I fear that we will see more examples where an innocent person is locked up while a guilty person is allowed to roam free."
It prompted me to rexamine the coverage I gave the original rape attack. I saw that the description I was given by police at the time of the attacker did not match Mr Malkinson.
Then Ms Bolton also told us in 2022 that two witnesses who gave crucial evidence for the prosecution had 16 convictions for 38 offences between them - including dishonesty - this was not revealed at the court case in 2004.
In Mr Malkinson’s case, APPEAL was forced to take Greater Manchester Police to court twice in order to obtain vital evidence which had been withheld from the defence at his original trial. In addition, the police unlawfully destroyed key exhibits in the case.
My doubts were already increasing about the credibility of the conviction and the quality of the police investigation when there was a dramatic development.
The revelation by Mr Malkinson's supporters, APPEAL, that the DNA breakthrough had linked another person to the case was seismic - as was the arrest by GMP of a new suspect, who remains under investigation but on bail.
In May 2023 I covered a directions hearing in the Court of Appeal where Mr Ed Henry KC, for Mr Malkinson, said that the case raised “concerns about police conduct” because of “an array of procedural breaches and an abdication of responsibility”.
Three weeks later we reported that GMP would not contest Mr Malkinson's appeal and Crown lawyers would also not oppose the move.
I played a part in damning his name - and then a part in telling Salford and beyond he was an innocent man.
Journalists watch and report as the wheels of justice turn every day. Tragically for Andrew Malkinson, and the woman he was wrongly convicted of attacking, they turned in entirely the wrong direction - and all too slowly back again."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/
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