Man on trial for cold-case rape that saw Andrew Malkinson jailed

A man is currently standing trial, charged with the 2003 rape of a woman in an assault that previously led to the wrongful imprisonment of Andrew Malkinson, who endured 17 years behind bars. Paul Quinn, aged 51, denies allegations including rape, strangulation, and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. His case is being heard before a jury at Manchester Crown Court.

The prosecution has presented evidence describing how the victim was followed towards the M61 motorway in Little Hulton, Salford. She was then forcibly taken into a secluded area of bushes, where she was sexually assaulted, choked, and rendered unconscious. Prosecutor John Price KC described Malkinson as having been “the victim of a most terrible miscarriage of justice, one of the worst there has been.” Price highlighted the unfortunate similarity in the appearance of both Quinn and Malkinson to the witness descriptions initially given.

Despite this, DNA collected from the victim’s clothing and body linked Quinn to the scene. Price emphasized to the jury that no plausible alternative explanation exists for the presence of Quinn’s DNA other than him being the perpetrator. On the morning of 17 July 2003, around 05:30 BST, a man walking his dog came across the distraught woman struggling along the pavement. She reported being followed and then snatched, dragged down a wooded slope beneath a motorway bridge, and raped. The victim, who remains anonymous under legal protections, recounted losing consciousness during the attack and later awakening to the reality of what had occurred.

Jurors were shown photographic evidence depicting the extent of the victim’s injuries, including severe bruising and swelling to her face and eye, as well as damage to her cheekbone requiring surgery. The victim described her attacker to police as “white, olive skinned and tanned,” with a “muscular build” and a “shiny, hairless chest.” The court also examined images of the accused and of Andrew Malkinson from that period, alongside a police e-fit created in 2003 based on the victim’s description.

Price asserted that the attacker must have been familiar with the local area, stating: “He was not only a local man, he was also someone who knew of that obscure location.” He outlined how the assailant timed the attack precisely to occur near a spot where the victim could be quickly removed from public view. Malkinson, who worked near the scene at the Ellesmere Shopping Centre, quickly became a suspect. The initial link came from officers who had stopped him weeks earlier and felt his appearance resembled the e-fit.

However, police noted that when Malkinson was interviewed the day after the assault, he showed no facial injuries matching those the victim said she inflicted during her struggle. At the time, he lived about a mile-and-a-half from the crime scene but left abruptly six days after the incident, quitting his job and telling a friend he was heading to Holland. This sudden move prompted police to track him to a Salvation Army Hostel in Grimsby, where he was arrested and returned to Salford for an identity parade.

Price told the jury: “The identifications of [Malkinson] were all honestly and genuinely made but, we submit, mistaken.” He explained how even people who know someone well can misidentify them under stress or trauma. The prosecutor concluded, “Evidence gathered in the second investigation, including DNA evidence… proves, it is submitted by the prosecution, that it was Paul Quinn and not Andrew Malkinson.”

Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More