Andrew Malkinson: Rape conviction of man who spent 17 years in prison overturned — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00I came to the police station in 2003
2. 0:04and told the officers I was innocent
3. 0:07they didn't believe me
4. 0:10I came to the Crown Court in Manchester
5. 0:12in 2004. until the jury I was innocent
6. 0:16they didn't believe me
7. 0:20I came to this appeal court in 2006 and
8. 0:23told him I was innocent
9. 0:25they didn't believe me
10. 0:28I applied to the criminal cases review
11. 0:30Commission
12. 0:32which is supposed to investigate
13. 0:34miscarriages of Justice
14. 0:36and tell them I was innocent
15. 0:39they didn't investigate
16. 0:41and they didn't believe me
17. 0:44not not once but twice
18. 0:50today we told this court I was innocent
19. 0:53and finally they listened
20. 0:57but I have been innocent all along
21. 1:01for each of those 20 years that came
22. 1:03before today
23. 1:06nothing any police officer caught or
24. 1:09Commission
25. 1:11said about me since 2003
26. 1:14changed that reality
27. 1:18you are here to gather news
28. 1:21that declaration from the bench in there
29. 1:23behind me is not news to me
30. 1:29when a jury finds you guilty when you
31. 1:31are innocent
32. 1:32reality does not change
33. 1:35you know you did not commit the crime
34. 1:40but all the people around you start
35. 1:41living in a false fantasy universe
36. 1:44and treat you as if you are guilty
37. 1:49the police
38. 1:51prison officers
39. 1:53probation
40. 1:55prisoners
41. 1:57journalists
42. 1:59judges
43. 2:02as a minority of one you are forced to
44. 2:05live their false
45. 2:07fantasy
46. 2:10on the 2nd of August 2003 I was
47. 2:13kidnapped
48. 2:14by the state
49. 2:17it has taken nearly 20 years to persuade
50. 2:20my kidnappers to let me go
51. 2:2217 years four months and 16 days of that
52. 2:26time
53. 2:27was spent in prison
54. 2:30at every parole here and I sat before a
55. 2:33panel who shook their heads at me
56. 2:35considering me to be dangerous
57. 2:38and all that time the real perpetrator
58. 2:40the real dangerous person was free
59. 2:46more recently I was allowed to leave
60. 2:48prison but with my name on the sex
61. 2:50offenders register
62. 2:52and under tight supervision by police
63. 2:54and probation I was not free
64. 2:58but now I have finally been exonerated I
65. 3:01am left outside this court without an
66. 3:04apology
67. 3:06without an explanation
68. 3:09jobless
69. 3:10homeless expected to Simply slip back
70. 3:13into the world
71. 3:15with no acknowledgment of the gaping
72. 3:17black hole that they opened up in my
73. 3:19life
74. 3:21a black hole that loons so large behind
75. 3:23me even here today that I fear it will
76. 3:25swallow me up
77. 3:28that black hole is hard for a person who
78. 3:31has never slept a night Behind Bars to
79. 3:32conceive of
80. 3:35people convicted of rape are the lowest
81. 3:38of the low
82. 3:39I did not commit the crime but I was
83. 3:42treated as if I did
84. 3:45I spent 17 years
85. 3:48on my guard against every threat
86. 3:5117 years counting down the minutes to
87. 3:54lock up
88. 3:55so I could be behind my door
89. 3:57I'm safe from other prisoners but not
90. 4:00safe from my own mind
91. 4:04imagining I would die there perhaps
92. 4:06murdered in the kitchens by a prison a
93. 4:09fellow prisoner
94. 4:11all left to die of hypoglycemia in
95. 4:13myself in the night
96. 4:17or being driven insane by the system and
97. 4:20dying at my own hand
98. 4:23but somehow I lived
99. 4:26told every day that I was a liar
100. 4:28I sought the uncomplicated truths of
101. 4:30Science and Mathematics through the open
102. 4:33University
103. 4:36told every day that I was a violent
104. 4:37monster I sought tiny rest bites through
105. 4:40Buddhism and meditation
106. 4:43told that I was in denial
107. 4:45about my offending Behavior
108. 4:48I read everything I could about a
109. 4:50justice system that was in denial about
110. 4:52its mistakes
111. 4:56since I was arrested in 2003 the police
112. 5:01the prison system
113. 5:02on probation service have been calling
114. 5:04me a liar
115. 5:06because I denied that I committed the
116. 5:08crime
117. 5:09they claimed I was in denial and made me
118. 5:12serve an extra 10 more years
119. 5:15in prison because I would not make a
120. 5:17false confession
121. 5:21I am not a liar
122. 5:24I am not in denial
123. 5:27but I will tell you who is
124. 5:34greater Manchester police
125. 5:37are liars
126. 5:39and they are in denial
127. 5:43even after this judgment today
128. 5:45I predict we will see them denying
129. 5:47responsibility for what happened
130. 5:50we will see them stretching credulity
131. 5:52with their excuse making
132. 5:56greater Manchester police have been
133. 5:58scrambling to cover up how they
134. 6:00wrongfully convicted me for 20 years
135. 6:04rather than investigate the multiple
136. 6:06leads they were given by the public
137. 6:08they made a horribly traumatized woman
138. 6:12look at a lineup
139. 6:14with me in it even though I didn't match
140. 6:16the description she had given of her
141. 6:18attacker
142. 6:21they exploited a hopeless heroin addict
143. 6:24and his girlfriend
144. 6:26both with dishonesty convictions
145. 6:29having them tell the jury they
146. 6:31identified me
147. 6:33they unlawfully withheld crucial
148. 6:35evidence which would have helped my
149. 6:37defense
150. 6:39once I began appealing the police
151. 6:42unlawfully destroyed the victim's
152. 6:45clothing
153. 6:48that I was demandingly retested along
154. 6:50with other evidence not just once but
155. 6:52three times
156. 6:55and all this time the person who really
157. 6:57did this horrific crime has been at
158. 6:59Large
159. 7:02and this means it is not just me who's
160. 7:03been denied Justice
161. 7:05this is the victim
162. 7:09as this is my only chance to say
163. 7:11something to her please allow me to
164. 7:14address her directly
165. 7:19sitting in my cell I used to wreck my
166. 7:22brains as to how you could say you were
167. 7:25so sure
168. 7:26it was me when I knew it was not
169. 7:30I read all I could and learned about how
170. 7:33fraught with risk
171. 7:34the process of lineup identification is
172. 7:37when someone has been subjected to
173. 7:39trauma
174. 7:41I wondered if the police helped you to
175. 7:44pick me
176. 7:46it's my release I have had the privilege
177. 7:48of being introduced to an American woman
178. 7:52called Jennifer Thompson
179. 7:54a rape Survivor
180. 7:56who was caught up in a wrongful
181. 7:58conviction
182. 7:59and she has helped me at least begin
183. 8:02to try and understand what you went
184. 8:04through that night and what it has been
185. 8:07like for you since
186. 8:11I am so sorry that you were attacked and
187. 8:13brutalized that night by that man
188. 8:16I am not the person who attacked you
189. 8:19but what happened to me is not your
190. 8:21fault
191. 8:23I'm so sorry if my fight for the truth
192. 8:26as I knew it to be has caused you extra
193. 8:28trauma
194. 8:31I'm so sorry that the system has let you
195. 8:33down
196. 8:36it lets us both down
197. 8:39there are no winners in a wrongful
198. 8:40conviction case with the exception of
199. 8:42the real perpetrator
200. 8:46everyone gets failed from the original
201. 8:48victim to the wrongfully convicted
202. 8:50person
203. 8:52I sincerely hope that you are receiving
204. 8:53the support
205. 8:55you need on the apology from the police
206. 8:57that you deserve
207. 8:59thank you