2003
A 33-year-old woman is raped and left for dead on a motorway embankment in Salford as she walks home. She recalls causing a “deep scratch” to her attacker’s face. Andrew Malkinson is visited by police officers the next day who see he has no scratch. He is arrested two weeks later and then picked out of a video lineup.
2004
Malkinson is convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison, despite no DNA evidence.
2006
Malkinson’s first appeal is refused.
2007
A male DNA profile in a “crime specific” location on the victim’s vest top that does not match Malkinson or the victim’s then boyfriend is uncovered in a nationwide review of the forensics used in historic rape and murder cases, called Operation Cube. Greater Manchester police and the Crown Prosecution Service are alerted. It is searched on a local section of the police database but no match found.
2008
A report into the new DNA discovery is written by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in April.
2009
July: Malkinson applies to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to look at his case.
August: Case log entry by a CCRC staff member reads: “Read papers today … I am slightly bemused by the submissions … Just because it appears there is someone else’s DNA on the complainant’s vest, not [the boyfriend’s] or the applicant’s, cannot surely produce a successful referral in view of all the other strong ID evidence.”
December: Greater Manchester police and the Crown Prosecution Service meet forensic scientists at the FSS to discuss the DNA development. It is acknowledged that the location of the DNA on the vest top is “crime specific” but no further work is commissioned.
A meeting log confirms the forensic scientist on the case recommends that Y-STR testing, which isolates the male chromosome (as commissioned by Malkinson’s lawyers a decade later), could be done to get a clearer result but the CPS advises against it.
The then head of the CPS’s complex casework in Manchester advised that unless there was an appeal “he did not see that there was a need to do any further work on the file”. He added: “If it became apparent that there was to be a further appeal based upon [the forensic scientist’s] additional work, then the position would change and the question of additional work in relation to bolstering the case as it stands could be undertaken.”
2011
October: CCRC case log summarises a meeting with a forensic scientist and says they said: “We are not going to get a profile from the material available which is capable of being searched and as a result someone identified. On the face of things this tends to support the position that the commission has done everything reasonable and there is no convincing reason to take forensic investigation any further.” However, searchable DNA had already been found – and searched in 2007.
November: Case log shows the significance of the location of saliva on the vest top appears to have been missed by the CCRC, despite the CPS acknowledging its significance as “crime specific” two years earlier. The note says: “The location of the DNA on the vest top does not make it any more likely to have been left by the attacker as opposed to a different individual.”
2012
The CCRC refuses Malkinson’s 2009 application without looking at the full police file or commissioning further DNA testing.
2016
The late journalist Bob Woffinden publishes The Nicholas Cases: Casualties of Justice, a book with a chapter on Malkinson.
2017
Malkinson’s case is picked up by the charity Appeal.
2018
A fresh application is made to the CCRC detailing flaws in the witness evidence. The CCRC does not commission further forensic testing or a fresh search of the police database.
2020
CCRC refuses Malkinson’s latest application. Malkinson’s lawyers at Appeal receive initial results of their own DNA testing, which links the crime to another unknown man. Previous criminal convictions of key witnesses are discovered by Appeal after a legal battle for the police file. Malkinson is released from prison on good behaviour.
2021
Malkinson’s lawyers make a fresh application to the CCRC on the basis of DNA and disclosure failures.
2022
A man is arrested in connection with the rape and released under investigation.
2023
January: CCRC refers Malkinson’s case to the appeal court.
July: Malkinson’s conviction is overturned.
On the morning of 2 August 2003 there’s a knock on Andrew Malkinson’s door.
It’s the police, there to arrest him for the violent attack and rape of a young woman. Andrew is adamant he hasn’t done it but the police are certain he matches the victim’s description of the attacker. Convinced that everything will be cleared up once he gets to the police station, Andrew takes part in a video lineup.
But the victim identifies him in the lineup as the man who attacked her and Andrew is charged with attempted murder and rape. Just over six months later a jury finds him guilty of rape and sentences him to life in prison. He begins his life sentence on the sex offenders wing in HMP Frankland on 30 March 2004.
Emma Loach, Lead Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, says: “This film describes one of the most terrible miscarriages of justice of our time. This was not only a devastating failure of the judicial system for Andrew, it has also neglected to bring justice for the victim of what was an appalling crime. The film goes behind the headlines and shows Andrew’s bravery and tenacity as he fights for his freedom and the terrible repercussions he is still facing today.”
Directors Fran Robertson and Jemma Gander says: “We first met Andy on the day he was released from prison in 2020, when he was still considered a guilty man. We knew that he had already spent 17 and a half years behind bars, fighting for the truth to come out and hoping that one day he would be able to tell the full story of his wrongful conviction and of the failures of the criminal justice system. We’re grateful that he allowed us to follow his journey to the Court of Appeal and that he has trusted us to help tell his story.”
With exclusive access to Andrew, his family and his legal team, this powerful film tells the extraordinary story of his fight to prove his innocence, from the moment of his arrest to his exoneration at the Court of Appeal twenty years later. Filmed over three years, from the day he walks out of prison, Directors Jemma Gander and Fran Robertson follow Andrew and his legal team as they take on the criminal justice system to overturn his conviction.
Andrew takes centre stage to tell his story and describes the devastating effect of those years in prison. His mother, Trish and his sister Sarah reveal the impact on them: what it was like to read the front page newspaper headlines describing him as a ‘monster’ and how it affected their relationship with him.
After serving seven years of his sentence, Andrew was eligible for parole, an early release under supervision. For the Parole Board to assess his risk to the public, he’s asked to attend offender behaviour programmes which he refuses to do as it means talking about the rape he didn't commit. His mum reveals, “he said ‘I’m never ever going to admit to something that I haven’t done. I don’t care if I stay in prison for the rest of my days.’”
As APPEAL lawyer Emily Bolton and investigator James Burley investigate Andrew’s case, they uncover revelations about the witnesses that start to show a picture of failings by Greater Manchester Police in its original investigation of the case.
After more than seventeen years, the Parole Board finally decide Andrew can be released. His mum and legal team are there to meet him and it’s an extraordinary moment for Andrew to “go to the beach and feel the waves, the wind and the cold air”. It's bittersweet – he’s free from prison but he’s still convicted of being a sex offender, under tight supervision by the probation service and the police.
As Andrew walks into the Court of Appeal, almost twenty years since he was arrested, his family and supporters can only hope that this time he will clear his name. The judge delivers his decision: “Mr. Malkinson, having waited so many years, you leave the court a free man, no longer subject to the conditions of your life licence.
The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars, a 1x60’ is made by Two Step Films for BBC Two and iPlayer. It was commissioned by Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries. The Executive Producers are Shona Thompson and Kevin Macdonald and the Producer/Directors are Jemma Gander and Fran Robertson. The Commissioning Editor is Emma Loach."
The entire release can be read at:
https://www.pressparty.com/pg/newsdesk/BBC2/view/397952/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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
---------------------------------------------------------------
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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
————————————————————————————
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-12348801
———————---------------------
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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
---------------------------------------------------------------
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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
————————————————————————————
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-12348801
———————---------------------
