Andrew Malkinson cleared of rape after serving 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit — Transcript

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1. 0:01almost exactly 20 years ago
2. 0:04on the 19th of July 2003
3. 0:09a young woman was attacked and raped as
4. 0:12she walked to her home in the early
5. 0:14hours of the morning
6. 0:16on 10th February 2004
7. 0:19this appellant Mr Andrew melkinson
8. 0:23was convicted of offenses of attempting
9. 0:25to trangle that young woman to whom we
10. 0:27have referred as sea
11. 0:30that with intent to commit an indictable
12. 0:32offense namely rape
13. 0:34and two offenses of raping C
14. 0:39he was subsequently sentenced to life
15. 0:43imprisonment
16. 0:45he in fact spent over 17 years in
17. 0:50custody very substantially beyond the
18. 0:53period specified by the trial judge as
19. 0:57the minimum term
20. 0:59throughout he has denied committing any
21. 1:03of the offenses
22. 1:06he now appeals against his convictions
23. 1:10the appeal coming before the court by
24. 1:13where the reference from the criminal
25. 1:15cases review Commission cc RC
26. 1:22as a result of the scientific advances
27. 1:26in relation to DNA testing
28. 1:30it became possible in 2022
29. 1:34for tests to be carried out
30. 1:37on samples which had been collected
31. 1:40during the original police investigation
32. 1:44and had been preserved across the years
33. 1:49at the outcome of that testing
34. 1:53was of two twofold importance
35. 1:58first it Gravely weakened the case which
36. 2:03the prosecution had presented against Mr
37. 2:05malkinson at his trial
38. 2:09secondly it directly implicated another
39. 2:13man to whom we have referred as Mr B
40. 2:19that development led the cclc
41. 2:24to refer the case to this court pursuant
42. 2:27to section 9 of the criminal appeal Act
43. 2:301995.
44. 2:32at the first ground of appeal Advanced
45. 2:35on behalf of Mr malkinson
46. 2:38reflects the reason which the CCRC gave
47. 2:43for their referral
48. 2:45further grounds grounds two to five have
49. 2:49also been put forward
50. 2:52it is recognized on all sides that this
51. 2:56court has a discretion
52. 2:58to hear and determine those grounds even
53. 3:02if the appeal will be allowed on ground
54. 3:06one
55. 3:08we're extremely grateful to all Council
56. 3:12for the submissions we have had on all
57. 3:15the matters
58. 3:17including those in respect of which the
59. 3:19court will need to decide whether to
60. 3:23give leave
61. 3:25we're also grateful to all those behind
62. 3:28Council on each side for their work in
63. 3:32preparing and presenting this important
64. 3:35appeal
65. 3:37the submissions we have heard about
66. 3:40grounds two to five have all substantial
67. 3:44and important points and the court
68. 3:47wishes to take time to reflect upon them
69. 3:51for that reason and having Regard in any
70. 3:54event to the time we have reached this
71. 3:57afternoon
72. 3:58it is not possible for the court to give
73. 4:02its full judgment today
74. 4:05however
75. 4:07we must keep Mr malkinson waiting no
76. 4:10longer to know the outcome of his appeal
77. 4:14for we are able to decide the outcome of
78. 4:17the appeal on the basis of ground one
79. 4:19alone
80. 4:21the respondent has not sought to resist
81. 4:25the appeal on ground one and we have no
82. 4:28doubt has acted entirely properly in
83. 4:32that regard
84. 4:34having considered for ourselves the new
85. 4:38evidence and its effect we have no doubt
86. 4:43that the new evidence shows these
87. 4:45convictions to be unsafe
88. 4:49accordingly we formally receive the new
89. 4:54scientific evidence as fresh evidence
90. 4:57we allow the appeals against conviction
91. 5:01in relation to all the offenses and we
92. 5:05quash the convictions
93. 5:08we reserve our judgment we will give it
94. 5:11in writing in due course in it we will
95. 5:15give our decisions on the issues of
96. 5:19leave and if appropriate the merits of
97. 5:21grounds two to five
98. 5:23and we will state the reasons for all
99. 5:27our decisions
100. 5:30but whatever our decisions may be in
101. 5:34relation to grounds two to five the
102. 5:38appeal succeeds on ground one and two Mr
103. 5:41malkinson having waited so many years he
104. 5:44you leave the court a free man no longer
105. 5:48subject to the conditions of your life
106. 5:49license
107. 5:55[Music]
108. 5:59all right
109. 6:03[Applause]
110. 6:06I came to the police station in 2003
111. 6:10until the offices I was innocent
112. 6:13they didn't believe me
113. 6:16I came to the Crown Court in Manchester
114. 6:18in 2004. until the jury I was innocent
115. 6:23they didn't believe me
116. 6:26I came to this appeal court in 2006 and
117. 6:29told him I was innocent
118. 6:31they didn't believe me
119. 6:35I applied to the criminal cases review
120. 6:37Commission
121. 6:39which is supposed to investigate
122. 6:40miscarriages of Justice
123. 6:42and tell them I was innocent
124. 6:45they didn't investigate
125. 6:48and they didn't believe me
126. 6:50not not once but twice
127. 6:57today we told this court I was innocent
128. 6:59and finally they listened
129. 7:04but I have been innocent all along
130. 7:07for each of those 20 years that came
131. 7:09before today
132. 7:12nothing any police officer caught or
133. 7:16Commission
134. 7:17said about me since 2003
135. 7:20change that reality
136. 7:24you are here to gather news
137. 7:27that declaration from the bench in there
138. 7:29behind me is not news to me
139. 7:35when a jury finds you guilty when you
140. 7:37are innocent
141. 7:38reality does not change
142. 7:42you know you did not commit to the crime
143. 7:46but all the people around you start
144. 7:48living in a false fantasy universe
145. 7:50and treat you as if you are guilty
146. 7:55the police
147. 7:57prison officers
148. 8:00probation
149. 8:02prisoners
150. 8:04journalists
151. 8:06judges
152. 8:09as a minority of one you are forced to
153. 8:12live their false
154. 8:14fantasy
155. 8:17on the 2nd of August 2003 I was
156. 8:19kidnapped
157. 8:21by the state
158. 8:23it has taken nearly 20 years to persuade
159. 8:26my kidnappers to let me go
160. 8:2917 years four months and 16 days of that
161. 8:32time
162. 8:33was spent in prison
163. 8:37at every parole here and I sat before a
164. 8:39panel who shook their heads at me
165. 8:41considering me to be dangerous
166. 8:44and all that time the real perpetrator
167. 8:46the real dangerous person was free
168. 8:53more recently I was allowed to leave
169. 8:54prison but with my name on the sex
170. 8:56offenders register
171. 8:58and under tight supervision by police
172. 9:00and probation I was not free
173. 9:05but now I have finally been exonerated I
174. 9:07am left outside this court without an
175. 9:10apology
176. 9:12without an explanation
177. 9:15jobless
178. 9:16homeless expected to Simply slip back
179. 9:20into the world
180. 9:21with no acknowledgment of the gaping
181. 9:23black hole that they opened up in my
182. 9:25life
183. 9:27a black hole that loons so large behind
184. 9:29me even here today but I fear it will
185. 9:32swallow me up
186. 9:35that black hole is hard for a person who
187. 9:37has never slept a night Behind Bars to
188. 9:39conceive of
189. 9:41people convicted of rape are the lowest
190. 9:44of the low
191. 9:46I did not commit the crime but I was
192. 9:48treated as if I did
193. 9:51I spent 17 years
194. 9:54on my guard against every threat
195. 9:5717 years counting down the minutes to
196. 10:00lock up
197. 10:01so I could be behind my door
198. 10:04I'm safe from other prisoners but not
199. 10:06safe from my own mind
200. 10:10imagining I would die there perhaps
201. 10:13murdered in the kitchens by a prison a
202. 10:15fellow prisoner
203. 10:17all left to die of hypoglycemia in
204. 10:20myself in the night
205. 10:23or being driven insane by the system and
206. 10:26dying at my own hand
207. 10:29but somehow I lived
208. 10:32told every day that I was a liar
209. 10:34I sought the uncomplicated truths of
210. 10:37Science and Mathematics through the open
211. 10:39University
212. 10:42told every day that I was a violent
213. 10:44monster I sought tiny rest bites through
214. 10:47Buddhism and meditation
215. 10:49told that I was in denial
216. 10:52about my offending Behavior
217. 10:55I read everything I could about a
218. 10:57justice system that was in denial about
219. 10:59its mistakes
220. 11:02since I was arrested in 2003 the police
221. 11:07the prison system
222. 11:09and probation service have been calling
223. 11:11me a liar
224. 11:12because I denied that I committed the
225. 11:14crime
226. 11:15they claimed I was in denial and made me
227. 11:18serve an extra 10 more years
228. 11:21in prison because I would not make a
229. 11:23false confession
230. 11:27I am not a liar
231. 11:30I am not in denial
232. 11:34but I will tell you who is
233. 11:41greater Manchester police
234. 11:43are liars
235. 11:46and they are in denial
236. 11:49even after this judgment today
237. 11:52I predict we will see them denying
238. 11:54responsibility for what happened
239. 11:57we will see them stretching credulity
240. 11:58with their excuse making
241. 12:02greater Manchester police have been
242. 12:04scrambling to cover up how they
243. 12:06wrongfully convicted me for 20 years
244. 12:10rather than investigate the multiple
245. 12:12leads they were given by the public
246. 12:15they made a horribly traumatized woman
247. 12:18look at a lineup
248. 12:20with me in it even though I didn't match
249. 12:22the description she had given of her
250. 12:24attacker
251. 12:27they exploited a hopeless heroin addict
252. 12:30and his girlfriend
253. 12:33both with dishonesty convictions
254. 12:35having them tell the jury they
255. 12:37identified me
256. 12:40they unlawfully withheld crucial
257. 12:41evidence which would have helped my
258. 12:43defense
259. 12:46once I began appealing the police
260. 12:48unlawfully destroyed the victim's
261. 12:51clothing
262. 12:54that I was demandingly retested along
263. 12:56with other evidence not just once but
264. 12:59three times
265. 13:01and all this time the person who really
266. 13:03did this horrific crime has been at
267. 13:05Large
268. 13:08and this means that it's not just me
269. 13:09who's been denied Justice
270. 13:12it is the victim
271. 13:16as this is my only chance to say
272. 13:17something to her please allow me to
273. 13:20address her directly
274. 13:26sitting in my cell I used to wreck my
275. 13:28brains as to how you could say you were
276. 13:31so sure
277. 13:32it was me when I knew it was not
278. 13:36I read all I could and learned about how
279. 13:39fraught with risk
280. 13:40the process of lineup identification is
281. 13:43when someone has been subjected to
282. 13:45trauma
283. 13:47I wondered if the police helped you to
284. 13:50pick me
285. 13:52since my release I have had the
286. 13:54privilege of being introduced to an
287. 13:56American woman
288. 13:58called Jennifer Thompson
289. 14:01a rape Survivor
290. 14:03who was caught up in a wrongful
291. 14:04conviction
292. 14:06and she has helped me at least begin
293. 14:08to try and understand what you went
294. 14:11through that night and what has been
295. 14:13like for you since
296. 14:17I am so sorry that you were attacked and
297. 14:19brutalized that night by that man
298. 14:22I am not the person who attacked you
299. 14:26but what happened to me is not your
300. 14:27fault
301. 14:30I'm so sorry if my fight for the truth
302. 14:32as I knew it to be has caused you extra
303. 14:35trauma
304. 14:37I am so sorry that the system has let
305. 14:39you down
306. 14:42it lets us both down
307. 14:45there are no winners in a wrongful
308. 14:47conviction case with the exception of
309. 14:49the real perpetrator
310. 14:53everyone gets failed from the original
311. 14:55victim to the wrongfully convicted
312. 14:57person
313. 14:58I sincerely hope that you are receiving
314. 15:00the support
315. 15:01you need on the apology from the police
316. 15:04that you deserve
317. 15:06thank you