Andrew Malkinson inquiry to be held after innocent man was wrongly jailed over rape for 17 years
AN independent inquiry will be launched into the shocking handling of the Andrew Malkinson case, ministers confirmed today.
Mr 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.
A new probe will now investigate the handling and the role of Greater Manchester Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Mr Malkinson's conviction and subsequent appeals.
Ministers hope it will ensure lessons are learned from the tragic miscarriage of justice he suffered.
The inquiry will be led by a senior legal figure.
Today the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Crown Prosecution Service and Greater Manchester Police vowed to fully cooperate.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: “Andrew Malkinson suffered an atrocious miscarriage of justice and he deserves thorough and honest answers as to how and why it took so long to uncover.
“The core function of our justice system is to convict the guilty and ensure the innocent walk free.
";Yet a man spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit while a rapist remained on the loose. It is essential that lessons are learned in full.”
Attorney General Victoria Prentis added: "An independent inquiry cannot give Andrew Malkinson 17 years of freedom back.
"It can provide the accountability he is owed by the criminal justice system and give all of us the reassurance that we learn the lessons from a tragic miscarriage of justice.”
Emily Bolton, founder of Appeal and Andrew Malkinson's solicitor, said: "It is absolutely right that there is an independent inquiry into Andy's avoidable wrongful conviction and how this catastrophic injustice persisted for two decades.
"The police, prosecution, courts and CCRC all failed disastrously in this case. Their actions must be scrutinised in the same way investigators interrogate black box data after a plane crash.
"Andy must be at the heart of any inquiry including having a voice in setting its terms of reference."
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.
He voluntarily agreed to take part in an identity parade, the victim picked Andrew out, and his world fell apart.
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Speaking to , Andrew describes his ordeal as a "slow motion car crash".
He added: "You're going through the windscreen and there's nothing you can do."