In a ground-breaking new film, Andrew Malkinson has described the trauma of being ‘taken’ by the state, wrongfully convicted, and imprisoned for over 17 years for a horrendous sexual offence he did not commit.

In the documentary, which aired on BBC Two last night, Malkinson explained the ordeal in his own words, with contributions from his mother, sister, and former partner, as well as his legal team at APPEAL.

After being picked up by police and charged with rape, he said entering Manchester Crown Court for his trial was ‘like entering a parallel nightmare world’, with the feeling that ‘everyone hates you right now’.

During the trial, the victim told the jury she was 100% sure that Malkinson was the man who had attacked her. The jury found him guilty by a majority verdict of ten to two. On hearing the judgement, Malkinson felt ‘absolute disbelief horror and fear’. He described his state of mind during sentencing when he was handed a whole life sentence: ‘This can’t be fucking happening’.

After several years in prison a wholescale review of DNA samples was undertaken, after concerns dodgy science had convicted people across the country of some of the most serious crimes, including murder and rape.

The DNA sample for the victim in Malkinson’s case was re-tested. A man’s DNA was found on her vest top, and it wasn’t his. Following this he made his second appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – the only body in the UK that can review potential miscarriages of justice. Two years after submitting his application, it was rejected. Malkinson said of this decision: ‘They chose to do nothing’.

The CCRC declined to be interviewed for the film.

Malkinson used the film to describe his struggles with the parole board, who said they couldn’t accurately consider his level of risk to the public without him undertaking rehabilitation courses – in which prisoners openly discuss and share their crimes, and their possible motivations. Malkinson questioned parole officials as to whether they believed that there were no wrongfully convicted people in prison – they agreed that there must be – but would not be drawn on the fact that he could be one of them. He was repeatedly denied requests for parole as he had not admitted to the charges against him.

After 14 years in prison, his case was taken on by legal charity APPEAL. After trying to access some of the key evidence used to convict him, lawyers at APPEAL quickly learned that Greater Manchester Police had lost or destroyed the physical evidence in the case, including the vest top containing the DNA of another unknown man.

In December 2020 Malkinson was released on parole after 17 years and 4 months in prison. But his conviction still stood. He was released into the community on a life license, and as a registered sex offender. He described being determined not to rest until his conviction was overturned.

The second half of the documentary saw Malkinson get behind the wheel of a car again, his lawyer Emily Bolton’s Fiat Panda, and move into his own flat in Dorset. He was also reunited with his former partner and long-term friend, Karin, who he had remained in touch with while he was in prison.

Malkinson continued to try and find out what happened to him, but said of the bodies who had secured his conviction: ‘They didn’t want the truth to emerge’.

APPEAL uncovered grave evidence about the true character of the ‘honest witnesses’ who had helped put Malkinson away. One was a heroin addict, and both times he had provided witness statements to the police he happened to have been arrested by the same force on the same day – and had a number of charges against him dropped. APPEAL had to take Greater Manchester Police to court to get this information out of them. This raised the question of whether the witnesses had been offered a deal to help convict Malkinson.

Malkinson’s Mum said of his fight for justice after being released: ‘I don’t know where he got his strength from’.

The barrister who represented Malkinson when his case was finally accepted by the Court of Appeal described it as ‘a historic case, but also an historic injustice’. He described the ‘deplorable’ disclosure failings on the part of Greater Manchester Police, that had ‘wholly undermined any prospect of a fair trial’.

Once his conviction was overturned, Malkinson stood outside the court and in a short speech to the press, railed against the police force for their twenty year scramble to cover up the fact that they had convicted the wrong man. He also took the chance to address the victim of the rape twenty years prior, saying what had happened to him was not her fault. ‘I am so sorry that the system let you down. It let us both down.’