A woman who alleged she was raped by Andrew Malkinson admitted to police 22 years ago that she “wasn’t really sure he was the right man”, a court heard.
Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for an attack he did not commit in what jurors called a “most terrible” miscarriage of justice. Paul Quinn is now on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of the 2003 rape after new DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the victim.
Quinn’s lawyer, Lisa Wilding KC, said the plaintiff had told Malkinson’s trial in 2004 that she was “more than 100% certain” he was the attacker. “At no time after that day in 2004 did you go to the police and say I was wrong,” the lawyer said.
The witness replied, “Yes,” and added, “I don’t remember which one it was. At one of the trials I remember telling one of them that I wasn’t really sure it was the right man and they said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just trial nerves, everything will be fine.’ I remember telling Helen, the detective, this.”
The woman, who cannot be identified, told the jury that she repeated these doubts to her husband “but he kept saying ‘No, we have the right person.'”
Malkinson, 60, was released from prison in December 2020 after new DNA testing identified another man’s saliva on his vest, jurors were told. The court heard Malkinson was identified by the woman in a digital identification parade three days after the alleged attack.
Occasionally wiping away tears with a tissue, the woman said she had given police a description of the man over the next few hours, but that it was already dark at the time of the incident.
When Wilding asked if she had thought twice before giving a description of the attacker since it was dark, the woman replied: “I didn’t think clearly because I was traumatized.” He added: “I had a face, but it wasn’t clear because it was dark. I gave them the best face I could.”
The woman continued: “I was very naive. I heard what the police said and I was afraid to go into the courtroom, I just followed what people told me to do and they assured me it was fine. He was the right man.
“I said I wasn’t sure he was the right man and they said, ‘It’s okay, it was nerves from the test, a lot of people think this and it was okay.'”
The witness told the court that it was a police officer who told her this. “They assured me that everything is fine… and that the court process is not just about my identification, but about other things, the other evidence that says whether he is guilty or not.”
Wilding asked: “Are you saying you knew you got the wrong ID but you told the jury you got the right one?”
The witness replied: “No, I said I wasn’t sure because I hadn’t seen the other gentleman (Malkinson) wearing glasses, so I was a little taken aback when I saw him in court. I told him I wasn’t sure and he said it was just nerves.” She added that she was “sure that it’s normal to have doubts.”
John Price KC, prosecuting, has said Malkinson’s identifications were errors “made honestly and genuinely”.
Price said scientists now believed Quinn, 51, was “more than a billion times” more likely than anyone else to be the source of the crucial DNA found on the victim.
Quinn, of Exeter, denies two counts of rape, one count of attempted strangulation and one count of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The trial continues.
