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Miscarriage of justice erodes confidence

Document Cited in Related
Published date08 August 2023
Publication titleBirmingham Mail (England)
How would any Birmingham Mail male reader feel about serving a life sentence in HMP Birmingham based on similar evidence to that which convicted Andy Malkinson of rape

The physical differences between Mr Malkinson and the victim's description of her attacker, her statement that her assailant, who raped and strangled her and left her for dead on a motorway embankment, had a Bolton accent, when Andy Malkinson was from Grimsby, should surely should have caused the jury to take extraordinary care before delivering a guilty verdict Then there were the two witnesses who claimed to have seen Mr Malkinson in the area. They had lengthy criminal records, one was a heroin addict ( information not known to the jury) and the victim scratched her attacker's face whereas Mr Malkinson had no visible injuries.

How did, the very belatedly exonerated Mr Malkinson, who described his ordeal as being 'kidnapped by the state', keep his sanity after spending 17 years in prison, for a heinous crime he did not commit?

He could have been released after seven years if he had falsely confessed to the crime , but he had the moral courage and fortitude to refuse.

The mental and physical toll on this poor man's health must be enormous, quite apart from the reputational damage and the social fall-out and ostracism for his...

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