Police and prosecutors reportedly had vital DNA evidence in Andrew Malkinson case in 2007

Mr Malkinson's conviction was quashed at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 26 July. Credit: PA

Police reportedly had evidence of other DNA on the clothing of the victim of a rape one man wrongly spent 17 years in prison for committing.

It's been revealed that police reportedly knew as far back as 2007 that another man's DNA was found on the clothing of the person that Andrew Malkinson was wrongly convicted of raping.

Mr Malkinson from Grimsby spent 17 years in prison for an offence he did not commit before his conviction was quashed based on DNA evidence last month.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years in 2003 and he spent an additional ten years in prison because he maintained his innocence.

After being told he was accused of rape, he requested an identification parade and DNA tests.

He said: "I just wanted it cleared up as soon as possible, but the victim picked me out and I just burst into tears. I thought what's going to happen now?"

The Guardian reports case files obtained by the 57-year-old as he battled to be freed show that officers and prosecutors knew forensic testing in 2007 had identified a searchable male DNA profile on the rape victim's vest top that did not match his own.

According to the report, police opted to take no further action and there is no record that they told the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the body responsible for investigating possible miscarriages of justice.

The CPS said Mr Malkinson's lawyers were told of the new DNA evidence.

CPS guidance states it "must write to the CCRC at the earliest opportunity about any case in which there is doubt about the safety of the conviction".

Mr Malkinson's custody picture, which was taken after his arrest. Credit: Greater Manchester Police

Mr Malkinson's solicitor Emily Bolton, director of the Appeal charity, said: "The documents are a shocking chronicle of how Andy was utterly failed by the body which should have put an end to his wrongful conviction nightmare, but instead acted as a barrier to justice."

Mr Malkinson said: "If the CCRC had investigated properly, it would have spared me years in prison for a crime I did not commit.

"I feel an apology is the least I am owed, but it seems like the very body set up to address the system's fallibility is labouring under the delusion that it is itself infallible.

James Burley, investigator at charity Appeal, said the documents "hammer home the litany of failures by the CCRC...…the body that’s supposed to act as a safety net in our justice system.

He said the CCRC "totally fumbled the ball at huge cost to Andy but also to the victim in this case."

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "The victim’s boyfriend had been ruled out, the paramedics who tended to the victim had been ruled out as a source of the DNA and also the dog walker who called 999 had been ruled out."

CCRC, GMP and the CPS have been approached for comment.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) previously apologised to Mr Malkinson and said they were "sorry" he was the "victim of such a grave miscarriage of justice."

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