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The Mancunian Way: A total failure of the judicial system

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Hello,

Andrew Malkinson was due to appear on Radio 4 very early this morning - but he slept in. That’s because last night was his first as a truly free man.

Convicted in 2004 of the brutal rape of a woman in Salford[2] - a crime he didn’t commit - Mr Malkinson spent 17 years behind bars. His conviction was yesterday quashed by senior judges at the Court of Appeal after DNA evidence linking another man to the crime came to light.

He told the Today programme: “It’s the result I've waited for, for 20 years.”

Andrew Malkinson outside the Court of Appeal

But his relief and joy are balanced with anger at ever having been convicted of the crime - and the strain of the painfully slow process to clear his name.

The Criminal Case Review Commission - set up to examine miscarriages of justice - has been accused of incompetence in their handling of the case. While Mr Malkinson has rejected Greater Manchester Police’s apology[3].

In a powerful interview with presenter Justin Webb, he said he never gave up protesting his innocence during his 17 year stint in prison. “The truth is the fundamental thing,” he said. “These are fundamental hard won truths and this was an institutional lie.”

‘A hollow choice’

Mr Malkinson was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years. But he served 10 more years because he maintained his innocence. He told the BBC the extra time behind bars took an 'extremely heavy toll'[4] on his psyche and that he 'contemplated suicide many times'.

But he said pretending he had committed the crime in order to get parole would have been ‘a hollow choice’.

“Getting out involves taking part in group therapy, that involves discussing with other transgressors - rapists, murderers, paedophiles - you all sit in a group and discuss what you’ve done,” he said.

“I thought through it. I knew I’d been set up and the idea of lying in a group and listening to those horrific stories. The very idea of sitting there and pretending I’d done something as horrific as that, I couldn’t even contemplate it.”

From damned to innocent man

Manchester Evening News chief reporter Neal Keeling covered the original police appeal for witnesses and information back in 2003. He also covered the court case.

In recent years, Neal he has extensively covered Mr Malkinson’s campaign to clear his name. He says it has been an extraordinary process to see the story unfolding over the last 20 years.

“The salient moments for me began before Mr Malkinson was even arrested,” Neal says. “They were interviews I did with detectives when GMP were appealing for information in a bid to identify the rapist, with one at the scene of the crime. They included a very detailed description by the victim of the man who brutally assaulted her and left her for dead. We printed it. It did not match Mr Malkinson.

“Then I was there at Manchester Crown Court when Mr Malkinson was convicted - by a majority of 10-2. The jury faced a huge dilemma - not a shred of forensic evidence linked him to the attack - but the victim had said she was ‘100 percent’ certain it was him.”

Andrew Malkinson outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London

The charity APPEAL worked for thousands of hours on Mr Malkinson’s case, interviewing witnesses, commissioning new DNA evidence and taking the police to court to force disclosure of new documents.

APPEAL investigator James Burley says the CCRC 'acted as a barrier to justice' by twice turning down Mr Malkinson’s case and failing to carry out the investigative work APPEAL undertook. "I'm saying the CCRC are completely incompetent and the handling of this case was a disgrace,” he told Today.[5]

Meanwhile, Neal says Mr Malkinson’s stance throughout the case has been admirable. “The revelation by Mr Malkinson's supporters, APPEAL, that a DNA breakthrough[6] had linked another person to the case was seismic - as was the arrest by GMP of a new suspect, who remains under investigation but on bail,” he says. “You have to greatly admire Mr Malkinson's refusal to take the easy option and admit he did it - just to regain his freedom. His stoicism is remarkable.”

Neal says the case warrants ‘a wide-ranging investigation’. “It was in hindsight a total failure of the judicial system,” he says. “At the time I did my job - reported on the nature of the attack; the police appeal, the court case, and wrote of Mr Malkinson being described by police as ‘a dangerous man’ and a ‘monster’ by the woman who was raped.

“Years later I started writing about his campaign to clear his name[7]. I played a part in damning his name and then a part in telling Salford and beyond he was an innocent man[8].”

The apology is meaningless

Mr Malkinson was wrongly convicted solely because of identification evidence - the victim picked him out in an identity procedure as did two other alleged eye-witnesses. But new DNA evidence has implicated another man.

Greater Manchester Police yesterday apologised[9] with Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Jackson describing the case as ‘a grave miscarriage of justice’. "Whilst we hope this outcome gives him a long overdue sense of justice, we acknowledge that it does not return the years he has lost. I have offered to meet with him to personally deliver this apology,” she said.

Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Jackson

But Mr Malkinson says the apology is ‘meaningless’[10]. "An apology without accountability, what is that? It’s nothing, it’s nothing, it means nothing,” he told Newsnight.

Speaking on the steps of the Court of Appeal yesterday, Mr Malkinson claimed he had been ‘kidnapped by the state’.

"Today we told this court I was innocent and finally they listened. But I have been innocent all along, for each of those 20 years that came before today. Nothing any police officer, court or commission said about me since 2003 changed that reality,” he said.

Addressing the victim of the crime he did not commit, he said: "I am so sorry that you were attacked and brutalised that night by that man. I am not the person who attacked you but what happened to me is not your fault."

A ‘terrible miscarriage of justice’

Andy Burnham was this morning asked how concerned he was about Greater Manchester Police’s role in the case of Mr Malkinson. The Greater Manchester Mayor said there are ‘very serious issues’ and called the case a ‘terrible miscarriage of justice’.

He told Sky News he would be looking at GMP’s response ‘very carefully’. But he said issues have arisen about how difficult it is for those in the criminal justice system who are protesting their innocence to secure their release.

“The second issue is the time taken by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to look at things. I know they do a good job and have done a good job for many people, but I always have concerns about their resourcing and whether they can move quickly enough given the importance of these matters,” he added.

A very high bar

Meanwhile, Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell said she is ‘very concerned’ about failures of GMP in this case. The shadow culture secretary told Sky News ‘the evidence was there’ from her reading of the case.

Lucy Powell

“The evidence has been there for many, many years to suggest that he wasn’t the perpetrator here, yet it has taken him a long personal battle, then with the legal system to get that overturned,” she said. “So I think there are serious lessons here for Greater Manchester Police. But I think there are also big lessons here for the way in which appeals get heard in this country.

“There’s a very, very high bar, I’ve got experience with this in other cases as well. It’s a very, very high bar that has to be met in order for an appeal to be heard. And that’s why we see these miscarriages of justice go on for years and years and it’s just not right and we need to have better checks and balances, not just in terms of that evidential gathering, but then in terms of how cases are prosecuted, and whether appeals can be heard.”

We must 'push ahead' with Martyn's Law

Since losing her son Martyn during the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, Figen Murray has been a fierce campaigner for change.

At the heart of her work has been an ambition to see anti-terror legislation passed in her son’s name. But a Home Affairs Select Committee now says ‘Martyn’s Law’ may not be suitable in its current form.

A committee report states that the draft anti-terror Bill 'could place small businesses and voluntary organisations at risk of closure but fail to make a difference to public safety', as Paul Britton reports.[11]

Figen Murray

Following pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill - also known as 'Martyn's Law'[12] - the committee called on the Government to ensure safety measures are 'based on risk and not on the size of a venue'.

Any new law would require venues and local authorities to have preventative plans in place against terror attacks. The committee says it would mean thousands of small organisations would be required to implement potentially costly safety measures without adequate resources.

"We are also concerned that this bill as currently drafted would fail to make a significant impact in preventing or mitigating the effects of terrorism,” they said. “For example, in its current form a local village hall would be required to carry out safety precautions while a city centre open-air farmers market or Christmas market would not. This makes little sense and takes no account of the actual terrorist threat they face.”

The committee has called on the Government to introduce the legislation in stages, beginning with larger venues, and review its implementation annually to assess its impact.

Figen says she finds it hard to understand the argument that ‘a few hours of training each year is a disproportionate step for businesses to take’. “Martyn's law is a proportionate response that will keep millions of us safer and the Government must now press ahead," she said.

Extension on ticket offices ‘not enough’

Andy Burnham says an extension to a period of public consultation launched over plans to close nearly all the UK's railway station ticket offices[13] is not enough.

The mayor of Greater Manchester - who together with other mayors has initiated legal action against train operating companies - repeated a view that the consultation wasn't following a process set out in law.

The controversial three-week public consultation, which ended yesterday, has been extended until September 1 by the Rail Delivery Group. But Mr Burnham says a 12-week consultation is required on any proposal to close part of a station. “The rail industry are simply extending a flawed process and for that reason, what has been announced will not stop our legal action,” he said.

“I am completely opposed to the plans to close almost every ticket office. This will isolate passengers and drive people away from rail at a time where in the North, confidence in services couldn't be lower. I will be fighting against these changes all the way."

The RDG announced on July 5 plans to close almost all of the 1,007 remaining ticket offices in the country, including more than 50 in Greater Manchester. Pre-action protocol letters were sent to TransPennine Express, Northern Trains Ltd, LNER, EMR, Thameslink, Greater Anglia and Avanti West Coast last week by the mayors.

Sign up to The Mancunian Way

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Weather etc

  • Friday: Cloudy changing to sunny intervals by lunchtime. 22C.
  • Road closures: A57 Eccles New Road, Weaste, westbound closed due to Metrolink works from James Corbett Road to A5185 Stott Lane. Until September 25.
  • A667 Stoneclough Road, Kearsley, in both directions closed due to roadworks between Brook Street and Quarry Road. Until October 1.
  • A5081 Park Way, Trafford Park, northbound closed due to roadworks from M60 J9 (Trafford Park) to B5211 Barton Dock Road. Until July 30.
  • Trivia question: During which year did the Strangeways riots take place?

Manchester headlines

  • Rail strike: Train operating company Northern says further rail strikes will halt 'all but a handful' of services[15] on Saturday. As a result, passengers have been issued with a warning and told to plan their journeys in advance. Industrial action is due to be taken by members of the RMT union at 14 train operating companies in total. The dispute is part of a long-running row over jobs, pay and conditions. Avanti West Coast, which runs trains between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston, has already said it would be operating a reduced service and warned trains that do run would be busier than normal.

  • Huge gap: Average life expectancy is more than seven years lower in certain wards of Bury than others, a report into health inequality has revealed. The gap between the ward with the highest life expectancy and the ward with the lowest life expectancy was 7.1 years for males and 7.3 years for females during the period 2016 to 2020. The data reveals that the average life expectancy for men in Moorside ward was 73.9, the lowest in the borough, while males living in Pilkington Park can expect to live on average to 81.7 years. The biggest gap for women is between the lowest, again Moorside, with an average life expectancy of 77.7 and North Manor where the average age at death is 85. More here.[16]

  • Blue plaque: Plans have been lodged for a blue plaque to commemorate an Oldham suffragist[17]. An application has been submitted by Oldham council for the installation of the sign to commemorate Marjory Lees at the Werneth Park Community Centre on Frederick Street. It would be installed next to the existing plaque on the Grade Two-listed building which honours her mother, politician and activist Dame Sarah Lees. The proposed wording would read: “The home of Marjory Lees 1878 – 1970. Suffragist, philanthropist, social welfare activist. Donated this house and park to the borough, 1936.”

  • New restaurant: Ramen specialists New Wave have announced the opening of a restaurant[18] in Manchester city centre. Building on the success of their kitchen at Mackie Mayor food hall, New Wave will open their first permanent site on Tib Lane this October. The ramen experts will be serving up their signature ramen alongside an evening izakaya menu 'celebrating native produce with Japanese soul'.

Worth a read

In this feature[19], reporter Damon Wilkinson explains how notorious gangster Dominic Noonan organised Manchester's prisoners before the Strangeways riots of 1990.

The riots - which left two men dead and 194 injured - were the longest and bloodiest in British history. But as Damon writes, tensions at the overcrowded, dilapidated jail had been boiling for months. A few months earlier its population had grown to more than 1,600 inmates, in a prison built for around half that number.

And, amid allegations of brutal treatment being handed out by guards, the prisoners were getting restless. Among them was Dominic Noonan.

You can read the full story here.[20]

That's all for today

Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email [email protected][21].

If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up[22]?

The answer to today's trivia question is: 1990.

References

  1. ^ right here (mancunianway.co.uk)
  2. ^ brutal rape of a woman in Salford (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  3. ^ rejected Greater Manchester Police’s apology (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  4. ^ 'extremely heavy toll' (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  5. ^ he told Today. (twitter.com)
  6. ^ a DNA breakthrough (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  7. ^ campaign to clear his name (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  8. ^ an innocent man (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  9. ^ yesterday apologised (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  10. ^ the apology is ‘meaningless’ (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  11. ^ as Paul Britton reports. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  12. ^ also known as 'Martyn's Law' (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  13. ^ public consultation launched over plans to close nearly all the UK's railway station ticket offices (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  14. ^ clicking on this link (data.reachplc.com)
  15. ^ will halt 'all but a handful' of services (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  16. ^ More here. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  17. ^ a blue plaque to commemorate an Oldham suffragist (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  18. ^ have announced the opening of a restaurant (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  19. ^ In this feature (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  20. ^ You can read the full story here. (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  21. ^ [email protected] (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  22. ^ sign up (mancunianway.co.uk)

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