Andrew Malkinson and APPEAL comment on conviction of Paul Quinn

Press Release, 17th April 2026

Commenting on the conviction of Paul Quinn today at Manchester Crown Court, Andrew Malkinson said:

“I am content that the right result has finally been achieved for the victim, myself and the public. But the truth is that if the police had acted as they should have done, Paul Quinn could have been caught a long time ago. Instead, they wanted a quick conviction and I was a handy patsy forced to spend over 17 years in prison for his horrific crime.

“All those responsible for allowing this dangerous man to wander free whilst I was locked up must now be held to account.”

James Burley, who led the law charity APPEAL’s investigation into Andrew Malkinson’s wrongful conviction, said:

“We welcome the conviction of the true perpetrator of this appalling crime for which Andrew Malkinson spent over 17 years wrongly imprisoned.

“However, the grim reality is that Paul Quinn could have been caught years ago and certainly back in 2012, when his DNA was uploaded to the national database. By that point, the authorities had for some years had a searchable DNA profile recovered from the victim’s clothing which did not match Mr Malkinson. Yet neither Greater Manchester Police nor the Criminal Cases Review Commission bothered to arrange a further search of the database until 2022, when APPEAL had presented further DNA evidence supporting Mr Malkinson’s innocence.

“As a consequence, Mr Malkinson spent a further 8 years wrongly imprisoned whilst a violent offender lived freely. New periodic DNA searching rules must be brought in to ensure this situation is never repeated.

“To ensure a wrongful conviction like Mr Malkinson’s cannot happen again, we also call for serious consideration to be given to disallowing prosecutions based solely on unsupported eyewitness identification evidence in future. Certainly, juries need to be given an updated, strengthened warning about the pitfalls of eyewitness identification evidence.

“We also call for there to be full, routine transparency about the criminal histories of all prosecution witnesses – so that in future innocent people like Mr Malkinson are not denied the evidence they need to properly defend themselves, as he was.”

Notes to editors:

APPEAL is a law practice and charity specialising in challenging miscarriages of justice. APPEAL represented Mr Malkinson in relation to the successful quashing of his wrongful conviction in 2023.
Mr Malkinson is not available for interview. Interviews with James Burley (Investigator, APPEAL) and Toby Wilton (Mr Malkinson’s civil solicitor at Hickman & Rose) can be requested by contacting media@appeal.org.uk and DNewling@hickmanandrose.co.uk