Andrew Malkinson case to be reviewed in miscarriage of justice probe after innocent man spent 17 years in prison

THE body which investigates miscarriages of justice is set to review its handling of the case of Andrew Malkinson.

Andrew Malkinson, 57, spent 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit.

He was found guilty of raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003.

The following year - with no forensic evidence to link him to the crime - he was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years.

His appeals to the Criminal Cases Review Commission were twice turned down before his rape conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Now the CCRC has revealed chairman Helen Pitcher met the Lord Chancellor on Wednesday to discuss the case.

A CCRC spokesman said: "A review into the decisions taken in Mr Malkinson's case couldn't be started until we had the judgment from the Court of Appeal, but we have long recognised that it would be important to have one.

"We will be as open as we can be within our statutory constraints with the findings of the completed review and the lessons to be learned.

"This is a complex case in which many elements have informed the decisions taken.

"We recognise that Mr Malkinson has had a very long journey to clear his name and it is plainly wrong that he spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

"We have already been in touch with Greater Manchester Police and with the Crown Prosecution Service to offer our assistance in any of their inquiries."

Andrew was in his hometown of Grimsby when he was arrested by detectives two weeks after the Salford attack.

He had been in the area at the time, working in a stop-gap job as a security guard before planning to move permanently to the Netherlands.

Andrew told police he would have been asleep at a fellow security guard's flat, where he was bunking as a guest, at the time of the attack.

But his host could not remember the night in question.

Police issued an e-fit of the attacker, whom the woman had left with a deep scratch on their face.

There was no evidence Andrew had been clawed and none of his colleagues had seen him with a facial injury.

The victim then said her attacker was tall, had a Bolton accent and a "shine hairless chest", Andrew had none of these traits.