Rapist Paul Quinn – who watched on as an innocent man served 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit – has finally faced justice.
Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape and attack of a 33-year-old mother-of-two as she walked home in the early hours of July 19, 2003.
The woman was followed and then dragged down a motorway embankment off Cleggs Lane in Little Hulton, Salford, near the M61, where she was viciously attacked and raped.
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Despite no DNA evidence linking Mr Malkinson to the notorious crime, he was prosecuted and convicted after the woman said she had been ‘100 per cent’ sure that he was the perpetrator.
In 2004 at Manchester Crown Court, Mr Malkinson received a life sentence and was ordered to serve at least seven years behind bars. But he remained in prison until 2020, as he maintained his innocence and tried to lodge appeals to clear his name. He was only cleared in 2023.
On Friday (June 5), at the same courthouse, Quinn, 52, received an extended sentence for public protection, comprising of 21 years in prison and an extra three years on licence.
He will serve two-thirds of the 21 year sentence before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board. In April, following a trial, he was found guilty of two counts of rape and well as inflicting GBH and a charge of attempting to choke, suffocate or strangle with intent.
Andrew Malkinson(Image: GMP)
He was locked up police appealed for ‘potential victims’ of Quinn to come forward. “This outcome has been possible due to the extraordinary courage and resilience shown by the victim, who has continued to engage with the criminal justice process through two trials,” the force said.
“Now, detectives who have led the painstaking reinvestigation are encouraging anyone else who may be a victim of Paul Quinn to come forwards with information, when they are ready.”
Mr Malkinson’s lawyer Toby Wilton said: “While Andy is relieved this chapter of his ordeal is now closed, it is not the end of this matter as far as he is concerned.”
Mr Malkinson added: “I am insulted that this violent, depraved individual – who was content to let me suffer two decades of vilification and more than 17 years wrongly imprisoned for his crime – has received a softer sentence than was imposed on me, an innocent man.
“I got sentenced to life imprisonment and served more than 17 years inside. Throughout that time I didn’t know if I would ever be released. Paul Quinn, who has a track record of violence and sexual offences, and who let me rot whilst he enjoyed his freedom, could now be out after just 14 years, and will certainly be out after 21 years. I hope that this man does not get parole and that he serves longer than me. Anything less is not justice.
“I am also appalled for the victim, who has suffered so gravely and whose real attacker has today gotten off lightly. My thoughts are with her and her loved ones – who I hope today nevertheless brings some peace.”
The judge, Mr Justice Bright, said of the victim, who was in court to see justice done: “Someone must have been looking after her that day. It is a minor miracle she didn’t die. These injuries were intentionally inflicted on a woman who lay on the ground, unconscious, and completely defenceless.”
The judge said the incident was ‘certainly unusually violent, even by the standards of stranger rapes’.
Interview clips played to the court during the Paul Quinn trial
He hailed the victim, a ‘hero’, adding: “She, not you Paul Quinn, is the person from this case who I will remember for the rest of my days. She is truly a hero.” Mr Justice Bright said it was obvious how ‘excruciating’ it was for her to come back to court for a second time.
“She is a remarkable person,” he added. The judge said Quinn’s victim ‘thought she was going to die’ during the attack. He said the attention of the police ‘swiftly’ focused on Mr Malkinson, who went on to be wrongly convicted.
The judge said Quinn visited an old news story on the Manchester Evening News website from 2004 about Mr Malkinson’s conviction.
That, he said, demonstrated Quinn was aware of what he had done to the woman and the knock-on effect on Mr Malkinson. “Neither of these things appears to have troubled you at any point during the 20 plus years that have passed,” he added.
The judge said there has also been ‘dire’ effects on Mr Malkinson, telling Quinn: “It is utterly clear that you knew throughout that another man had been arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned. You knew that his conviction was wrongful.
“You sat back and enjoyed your liberty at the expense of an innocent man. It’s true you never did anything to implicate Mr Malkinson, however, but for you he would never have even been questioned.”
Mr Justice Bright
Earlier, in a victim impact statement read on her behalf by prosecutors, referencing Mr Malkinson, the victim said: “After 20 years I now have justice, but that does not change the fact that two lives have been impacted in such a way. I am aware that someone has had 17 years robbed as a result of this case, and that stays with me.
“As for me, the impact of what happened that day has stayed with me and will remain with me for life. Every day I look at my face and see the disfigurement, the scarring. It is a permanent reminder of that night and what I experienced. I have to live with that.
“I have always been a little reserved, take time to come out of my shell but following those events, everything changed. I live in constant fear that someone is behind me, even in places that others wouldn’t consider a risk, like the supermarket.
The permanent state of anxiety which has stopped me feeling able to socialise, always wanting to get home and shut the door as quickly as possible. With work, home and a couple of appointments with known individuals being the only places I can muster up enough courage to attend alone.
Paul Quinn being interviewed by police
“For everything else, I have my family or husband who escort me and reassure me, try and make me feel safe. The impact has been massive but the ripple effect on my family has also been hard to watch, not being able to stay more than a couple of hours at family gatherings, wanting to head back to the room after tea on holiday instead of enjoying the scenery, not opening up about how I feel for fear of not being able to put everything back in its box.”
She said of Quinn: “For him it was one night of his life, for me it was one night that changed my life.”
Quinn, a dad-of-six, first appeared on the police’s radar in 2022 after a ‘speculative’ search of the national DNA database matched a profile found on the victim’s vest top.
Back in 2007 tests revealed the presence of another DNA profile belonging to an unknown man on the item of clothing which did not belong to Mr Malkinson, but he remained in jail for another 13 years.
Quinn, aged 29 at the time of the attack in 2003, had his DNA taken in 2012 as part of a national operation to take samples from offenders who had previously committed serious offences but were not on the database.
When he was 16, Quinn had underage sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, in a crime which police said would now be categorised as rape. He was convicted when he was 17 and given a community order.
Andrew Malkinson(Image: PA)
A public inquiry has been set up to examine how ‘a most terrible miscarriage of justice’ happened, described by prosecutors at Quinn’s trial as ‘one of the worst’ that ‘there has been’ in UK history.
At Quinn’s trial which ended in April, the victim disclosed that she had actually been ‘unsure’ about the identification of her attacker at the 2004 trial. She maintained that she had informed a ‘good looking’ detective, who she nicknamed ‘The Don’, of her uncertainty, but he told her it was just ‘trial nerves’.
That is one of the allegations which is also being considered as part of an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which remains ongoing. Others include the disposal of vital exhibits in the case by Greater Manchester Police, including the victim’s clothes, and the way in which identity parades were used by police in the case.
The IOPC previously said four retired GMP officers were under investigation for potential gross misconduct in connection with the case. That number is now five. Another officer, who is still serving, is being investigated for possible misconduct.
Cleggs Lane in Little Hulton (stock image)(Image: Manchester Evening News)
One of the former officers is also under criminal investigation for potential offences of misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. The senior detective in charge of Quinn’s case, who described him as ‘disturbing’ and ‘dangerous’, said the force is now investigating whether Quinn carried out more crimes undetected in the intervening years.
“It’s a line of inquiry that we have been actively following,” Detective Chief Superintendent Rebecca McKendrick previously said. “We haven’t, as of yet, been able to find any definitive links with any other offences. We will continue to do so and we would urge any members of the public with information regarding Quinn and additional offending to come forward and to give us that information.”
In court, Quinn, who worked as a fencer, told how he would enjoy a ‘party weekend’ after leaving his wife at home, drinking, taking drugs and ‘copping off’ with women. Quinn’s then wife Catherine remembered how on the night of the attack, he had returned home without a shirt.
Paul Quinn as a younger man(Image: GMP)
In her account of her ordeal, the victim told how her attacker had taken his shirt off. Mrs Quinn said that she told her ex: “I hope they don’t find it anywhere near there [the scene of the alleged rape].”
“It was a kind of joke,” she told the trial. “I assumed he had left it in the club.”
The judge said he believed that the victim had been abducted from the street’. Prosecutor John Price KC said: “This was a lady who was swept from a public place, to a secluded place.
“She was taken to a place where nobody would know where she was, and she was at his mercy and was beyond help because she could not be seen there.”
Quinn maintains his innocence. Defending him, Lisa Wilding KC conceded that Quinn had not been of ‘good character’ since 2003 but said not committed any further offences of that scale.
Brave victim’s statement
The woman told the court in a statement: “After 20 years, I now have justice but that does not change the fact that two lives have been impacted in such a way. I am aware that someone has had 17 years robbed as a result of this case and that stays with me.
“As for me, the impact, will remain with me for life. Every day I look at my face, it is a permanent reminder of that night and what I experienced, and I have to live with that.
Paul Quinn(Image: PA)
“I have always been a little reserved, I take time to come out of my shell but following that night, everything changed. I live in constant fear – I always wanting to get home and shut the door as quickly as possible.
“I have my family and husband who escort me to places and reassure me; they try and make me feel safe. The impact has been massive but the ripple effect on my family has also been hard to watch – not being able to stay more than a couple of hours at family gatherings, wanting to head back to the room after tea on holiday instead of enjoying the scenery, not opening up about how I feel for fear of not being able to put everything back in its box.
“For him it was one night of his life, for me it was one night that changed my life.”
‘Horrendous ordeal’
Following the hearing, Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: “We have apologised to the two victims impacted by this ordeal: the survivor of this heinous attack, and Mr Andrew Malkinson, who was the victim of a grave miscarriage of justice after wrongly being convicted and imprisoned for 17 years for a crime he didn’t commit.
“We recognise the profound impact and the harm caused by not bringing the real perpetrator to justice at the time.
DCS McKendrick paid tribute to the victim, saying: “The victim in this case has put her trust in the GMP of today and finally has true justice. This outcome would not have been possible without her unbreakable strength.
An image of Paul Quinn shown to the jury, said to have been taken in 2017(Image: GMP)
“We have all heard in court the lifelong impact that this horrendous ordeal has had on her, and I want to pay tribute to the courage she has shown every single day since this attack.
“It has been an ordeal compounded by a second victim, Andrew Malkinson, being subject to such a grave miscarriage of justice.
“I know there are key questions that must be answered by the IOPC investigation and judge-led inquiry. GMP stands ready to support these vital reviews.
“I want to thank our dogged and diligent team who have led this unprecedented reinvestigation. It has involved reviewing 6,000 documents and getting more than 250 witness statements.
“Today brings to a close the criminal chapter to this case. The right man – this horrific attacker, Paul Quinn – is finally behind bars.”
Paul Quinn(Image: Facebook)
Appealing to other potential victims, Detective Chief Superintendent Rebecca McKendrick, senior investigating officer on the case, said: “When Paul Quinn attacked and raped a lone woman late that night in July 2003, he knew what he had done. He knew his crime was horrific and he knew how cowardly he was for watching another man go to prison.
“Twenty years later, he denied it – telling us he would have been ashamed of committing such an offence. Well tonight I hope that shame runs deep to his core.
“We know this outcome has come two decades too late for those impacted by this case. However, we will not allow time to be a barrier to justice for anyone who has further information about Paul Quinn and any further potential sexual offending.
“To commit such a violent attack raises concerns that there may be other victims out there. If you believe you have been a victim or have information you have not yet shared with us, please know we want to hear from you. We promise you that we will support you and we will listen to you.”
‘Not the end’
Mr Malkinon’s lawyer Toby Wilton, of Hickman & Rose, said: “While Andy is relieved this chapter of his ordeal is now closed, it is not the end of this matter as far as he is concerned.
“Andy is still fighting to persuade the Government to overhaul the scheme by which the victims of miscarriages of justice receive nowhere near the compensation they deserve.
“Currently, the costs incurred in trying to achieve a fair and suitable compensation are deducted from the final amount some victims receive.
“This effectively means that victims of the most serious miscarriages of justice, such as Andy, are expected to pay for the privilege of securing justice. This is clearly not right, and unfairly affects only those, like Andy, who have suffered the most.”