An innocent man who was wrongly jailed for 17 years said he is “insulted” at the “soft” sentence given to the real culprit on Friday.
Andrew Malkinson, whose case is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history, said the real offender, Paul Quinn, had left him to “rot” behind bars.
Quinn, 52, and a father of six, was jailed for 21 years, with a further three years on licence, over the 2003 rape of a 33-year-old woman at Manchester Crown Court.
Quinn will be eligible for parole after serving 14 years.
In a statement released through Appeal, a charity that campaigns against wrongful convictions, Mr Malkinson said: “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.”
Mr Malkinson was released from prison in 2020 and his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2023 after DNA evidence proved that he was not the attacker.
Quinn was convicted of the rape of the 33-year-old woman in April.
The case is considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British criminal history.
Sentencing Quinn at Manchester Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Bright said his victim is a “hero”.
The judge said: “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 said.
The woman was brutally strangled and “thought she was going to die” during the attack, he said.
She was lucky that she did not incur significant brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.
The police’s attention “swiftly” focussed on Mr Malkinson, and Quinn visited an old news story on the Manchester Evening News website from 2004 about the other man’s conviction, Mr Justice Bright said.
That demonstrated that Quinn was aware of both what he had done to the woman and also the knock-on effect on Mr Malkinson, he said.
“Neither of these things appears to have troubled you at any point during the 20-plus years that have passed,” he added.
“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.”
Quinn was given a 24-year sentence, comprising of 21 years custody with an extended licence of three years.
He will be eligible for parole in 14 years – less than the term served by Mr Malkinson.
The father of six showed no reaction as he was sentenced.
Victim beaten, bitten and choked
The victim, a young mother, was beaten, bitten, choked unconscious and raped after being snatched from the street as she walked home in Little Hulton, Salford, in the early hours of 19 July 2003.
She sat in court weeping as a lawyer read her impact statement, which read: “After 20 years, I now have justice but that does not change the fact that two lives have been impacted in such a way.
“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.
“For him it was one night of his life, for me it was one night that changed my life.”
