Man falsely jailed for 17 years is late to interview after sleeping in on first night as free man

Listen: Andrew Malkinson oversleeps before appearing on Radio 4's Today programme

The man who served 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit arrived late for a radio interview about his ordeal – after sleeping in on his first night of freedom.

Andrew Malkinson’s conviction was quashed on Wednesday after he was incorrectly sentenced to life in prison for raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003.

Mr Malkinson always denied being guilty and DNA evidence eventually came to light which linked another potential suspect to the crime.

The 57-year-old was due to speak about his experience on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday but his appearance was delayed – due to what the presenter believed to be “taxi difficulties”.

However, when Mr Malkinson eventually arrived for his interview, it turned out he had simply slept in.

Presenter Justin Webb said: “It wasn’t taxi difficulties was it – you slept in. My goodness, we kind of owe you that.”

Apologising for being late, Mr Malkinson said: “I don’t like letting people down. I slept in.”

Despite being out of prison for some time, Malkinson said that he hadn’t felt “free” until on Wednesday night, on the day his conviction was quashed.

He added: “Last night was not even my first 24 hours of being free.”

"So obviously there's been a hell of a lot to process mentally. There's a lot of joy in the result – it's the result I've waited for for 20 years.

"Joy at finally telling the world the truth – all the obfuscation has been stripped away now. But anger at the fact I was even tried for this."

Andrew Malkinson cleared after 17 years behind bars

The Court of Appeal cleared Mr Malkinson of two counts of rape and one of choking or strangling with intent to commit rape.

As well as his original jail term, Mr Malkinson served 10 more because he had maintained his innocence.

At the time of Mr Malkinson’s trial, there was no DNA evidence linking him to the crime and the prosecution case against him was based solely on identification evidence.

In October last year, a DNA sample was found to be a partial match for another man, who the court ordered can only be identified as Mr B.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) conceded that Mr Malkinson’s conviction was unsafe because the new DNA evidence points to Mr B and said there “must now be a real possibility” that man will be charged over the attack.

Mr Malkinson previously applied twice for his case to be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) but was turned down, eventually being released from prison in December 2020.

After his release, advancements in scientific techniques allowed his legal team, supported by legal charity Appeal, to provide new DNA analysis that cast doubt on his conviction to the CCRC.

The body then commissioned its own testing which found that DNA from the victim’s clothing matched another man on the national police database.

Overturning his convictions, for two counts of rape and one of choking or strangling with intent to commit rape, Lord Justice Holroyde said Mr Malkinson could “leave the court free and no longer be subject to the conditions of licence”.

Greater Manchester Police issued an apology to him following the ruling, saying: “We are truly sorry to Mr Malkinson that he is the victim of such a grave miscarriage of justice in being convicted of a crime he did not commit and serving a 17-year custodial sentence.

“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.”

However, Mr Malkinson dismissed their apology: “The Greater Manchester Police apology… it’s meaningless to me, absolutely meaningless. An apology without accountability, what is that? It’s nothing, it’s nothing, it means nothing.”