Andrew Malkinson: Vindicated man says police knew withheld evidence was crucial to case

A man who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit has won another stage of his bid to clear his name.

Judges at the Court of Appeal have now ruled that Andrew Malkinson’s conviction was unsafe because of failures by Manchester police to disclose crucial evidence.

The court heard that police had not made photographs available to Mr Malkinson’s trial, which would have supported evidence that the victim scratched her attacker’s face.

His lawyer said that had deprived him of “his strongest defence point – his lack of any facial injury”.

Mr Malkinson had his conviction quashed last month after DNA evidence came to light, linking the crime to another man.

The Greater Manchester force said they were truly sorry for “this most appalling miscarriage of justice”.