A man who served almost two decades in prison for a rape he did not commit has said he was “kidnapped by the state” after being cleared because of new DNA evidence.
Andrew Malkinson, 57, was found guilty of raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003, and the following year he was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years.
A 33-year-old woman had been left for dead on a motorway embankment in Salford.
Malkinson remained in prison for a further 10 years because he maintained he was innocent, and has spent a total of 17 years behind bars.
On Wednesday, he was cleared by the Court of Appeal of two counts of rape and one of choking or strangling with intent to commit rape after DNA evidence came to light which linked another potential suspect to the crime.
There was no DNA evidence linking Malkinson to the crime at the time of his trial. The prosecution case against him was based solely on identification evidence.
The Crown Prosecution Service and Greater Manchester Police confirmed in May they would not contest the appeal.
Reading a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Malkinson criticised Greater Manchester Police for their failings in his case, accusing the force of being “liars” who have been “scrambling to cover up how they wrongfully convicted me for 20 years”.
He added: “On August 2 2003, I was kidnapped by the state. It has taken nearly 20 years to persuade my kidnappers to let me go.
“Seventeen years, four months and 16 days of that time were spent in prison.
“At every parole hearing I sat before a panel who shook their heads at me, considering me to be dangerous – and all that time the real perpetrator, the real dangerous person, was free.”