The real perpetrator (April 2026 UPDATE) | Seventeen Years - The Andrew Malkinson Story Ep. 9

As a woman on Tripador, you know that every connection counts, whether it's with your customers, your team, or your community.

Spectrum Business is here to help you build those connections stronger and faster.

Imagine running your business with fast, reliable, fiber-powered internet so you can stay connected to customers, employees, and vendors without having to worry.

We know flexibility matters.

That's why select Spectrum Business packages come with a three-year price guarantee, so you can focus on running your business.

Plus, enjoy savings on internet, phone, TV, and mobile services when you can bundle.

With Spectrum Business, you get more than just internet.

You get support with 100% U.S.-based customer service, real people who understand small business, ready 24-7 to help you stay up and running.

Join millions of business owners like you across America who trust Spectrum Business for reliability, speed, and support.

Visit Spectrum.com slash business today to get started.

Restrictions apply.

Service is not available in all areas.

AI is transforming customer service.

It's real and it works.

And with FIN, we've built the number one AI agent for customer service.

We're seeing lots of cases where it's solving up to 90% of real queries for real businesses.

This includes the real world, complex stuff like issuing a refund or canceling an order.

And we also see it when FIN goes up against competitors.

It's top of all the performance benchmarks, top of the G2 leaderboard, and if you're not happy,

we'll refund you up to a million dollars, which I think says it all.

Check it out for yourself at fin.ai

Before we begin, this episode contains discussions of rape and assault.

Last time, on 17 years, the Andrew Malkinson story.

We have no doubt that the new evidence shows these convictions to be unsafe.

And all that time, the real perpetrator, the real dangerous person was free.

Last year, Greater Manchester Police arrested a man on suspicion of rape for the same crime Andy was convicted of.

Do you blame Greater Manchester Police for what happened to you?

Yes, definitely.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's a blade.

I'm outside Manchester Crown Court.

And it's finally stopped draining.

And the most extraordinary thing has just happened.

That's Emily Dugan.

The Sunday Times is special correspondent.

We're finally, the right man.

Has been found guilty of the crime that Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for.

That man is 52 year old Paul Quinn.

The former landscape fencer Quinn is stockly built with stubble on his face and dark hair,

balding a touch at the back.

He spent the trial dressed in jeans, a white polo shirt and a black jumper,

occasionally switching between his two pairs of glasses to read what was in front of him.

And it was a really emotional moment in the courtroom just as they announced that guilty verdict.

Sitting right in front of me with a row of the police officers who'd been working on the case.

I could see they were shaking with emotion.

And then to my right in the dock was Paul Quinn, the man who's just been convicted.

Emily's been in court following the trial for the last month and a half.

The jury has been deliberating since the start of this week.

As the verdict was delivered, he took off his glasses and put his head in his hands.

And then his shoulders were slumped.

For the whole trial, really, he's been inscrutable.

He's just been staring straight ahead and it's probably the strongest sign of emotion he's given.

I definitely found it hard not to cry.

And I think that's because after more than five years working on this,

I know how much it means to so many people.

I texted Andy just after it came in.

And he said, yes, finally, wonderful news, more relief than anything else.

And now he's going to be asking serious questions about how he ever ended up in that position.

And he's been asking these questions for years.

But finally, there is justice.

And it's the most extraordinary overwhelming feeling to know that finally, finally,

the right man has been brought to justice for this crime.

We've been following Andy's case in this podcast series since 2021.

This moment signals the end of this chapter in Andrew Malkinson's long fight to prove his innocence

with Andy's conviction overturned in 2023 and now another man facing life in prison for the crime.

But where did the story begin?

In 2003, a mother of two was raped in the early hours of the 19th of July on a hot summer's morning.

She was dragged down a motorway embankment in Greater Manchester on her way home,

the woman who was in her 30s was attacked by a stranger.

Andrew Malkinson, originally from Grimsby, was arrested and in early 2004 he was sent to prison for life.

He always denied having anything to do with it.

Years later, in 2023, while out on licence, his conviction was quashed.

You're listening to 17 years, the Andrew Malkinson story, a podcast from the Times and the Sunday Times.

I'm Will Rowe, the producer of the series.

It's about how one man spent almost two decades in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

Today, we'll hear how another man who lived near where the attack took place has been convicted of the rape.

The same rape and crime that led to one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in modern British legal history.

And cost Andrew Malkinson years of freedom.

This is part 9, the real perpetrator.

So Emily, welcome back.

The last two episodes of this series.

We did without you.

That's because you went and worked for another newspaper.

But you've continued to follow this story.

And I guess let's go right back to when did you first look into the Andrew Malkinson case?

And just a little reminder at this point, what exactly was that story?

So back in November 2020, I wrote to Andy in prison.

And I'd heard about the case through talking to his, he had a relatively new legal team at the Charity Appeal.

I was talking to him about various cases and they mentioned his and it sounded quite remarkable.

So I wrote to Andy with a whole series of questions.

Everything that had been written at the time of the trial painted him as this total monster.

But it was really clear that there were some inconsistencies already.

And so I wrote this letter and he replied from prison with this incredibly densely written 13 page handwritten letter.

And what kind of jumped out of the page was this very thoughtful man.

And the detail he gave really did make me stop and think.

Andy Malkinson comes out of jail in late 2020.

And it's at that point that you really take an interest in that story.

And then we ultimately make a podcast series together.

We obviously raked over the case.

We went back and forward over the different witnesses and the evidence and the lack of evidence that there was.

But it wasn't until July 2023 that Andy actually had his conviction overturned.

So he had to spend another two and a half years living as a convicted sex offender out in society.

So when our series originally came out in October 2021,

you said as the reporter on the series, I believe Andy Malkinson's conviction to be unsafe,

then you actually left the Sunday times.

And as a series producer, I had to kind of take over.

And obviously I was at that point extremely invested in the series.

And I was actually at the court of appeal when his conviction was quashed.

And obviously I saw you there, but at this point you're on a rival paper.

But it's wonderful to have you back.

And you've continued to keep following, digging on the story.

And you caught up with Andy quite recently, didn't you?

I think you're on the highest point in South Coast.

Oh, it's glorious.

Yeah, so we make up in Bribport, which is where he still spends a lot of his time.

That's where Emily Bolton, his lawyer, is from.

He took me on a walk with his dog basil.

I got one. Here you go.

And Emily, his lawyer, came along too.

And we just, you know, you'd see how much he relaxed being in a kind of,

an open space in the woods.

Yeah.

Two bags.

Yeah.

He talked a lot about the impact of all this on him.

You know, he hates confined spaces.

I think the psychological impact of that time in prison has been significant.

You know, all these things that you've already managed to change, I mean.

Yeah.

I haven't finished.

I want to change a lot more.

And what's the, what's tough?

He struggles to concentrate.

He gets angry much more than he used to.

And had your life.

Yeah.

As it was in limbo for the, for the two years before.

And this is all my fury.

I still feel that very powerfully.

I mean, in some ways, he looks healthier.

You know, he's been on quite a health kick lately.

I've got my own.

Oh, are these sets?

Air Max.

Ah, nice.

Yeah, they're so comfy.

Yeah.

Cloud walk.

Trying his best to manage his health, because of course, it deteriorated terribly in prison.

He contracted diabetes when he was in prison.

But actually, whenever we got back onto the topic of this case,

or great managed to police, or the miscarriage of justice,

watch dog, or any of these bodies that have been involved in this case,

the angle is really raw, much more so than it happened.

And this week, it's been quite a momentous week,

because we now know who the true rapist was for that crime that Andy spent all those years in jail for.

It's a man called Paul Quinn.

But just for listeners of the series,

can you just do a real short recap of the very violent rape that Andy did spend 17 and a half years in jail for?

Yeah, so back in July 2003,

a woman in her 30s was just walking back

through Little Halton in Greater Manchester, early hours of the morning,

and she was attacked by a stranger who we now know to be Paul Quinn,

dragged down a motorway in bankman and raped,

and strangled till she became unconscious.

Obviously clearly, there's no version of rape that isn't violent,

but that this attack had particular brutality to it.

One of the injuries she suffered was a partially severed nipple.

When we saw the images in court of the state of her face after this attack,

there was a real sense of shock in the room.

So, Andy Malkerson spent 17 and a half years in jail for that attack.

There was a wrongful conviction, and we now know that the man that did commit the crime that night

is a man called Paul Quinn.

So, who is Paul Quinn?

Back in 2003, Paul Quinn was 29, working as a fencer and landscape gardener.

He was married, he had two children at the time.

He was someone who, you know, he liked to go on lots of nights out.

He described this party lifestyle, basically,

to go out clubbing in a club called Chuffers up the road from Little Holton,

and he was local to the area.

How does Paul Quinn come on the police radar?

So, we'd always known all along that there was DNA that matched another unknown male

on the victim's vest top, and that was a really key area

because the victim suffered what was a bite during that attack.

The initial forensic testing at the time back in 2003 when the investigation was happening

just weren't sensitive enough to pull off a full profile.

But then while Andy's case was being re-investigated,

a whole load of retesting happened.

Paul Quinn's DNA was taken in 2012,

and the reason it was taken is he was part of this big nationwide push

to make sure that anyone who had committed a sexual offense that was quite historic

did actually have their DNA added to the database.

And the crime that he had originally been convicted of was a sexual offense

when he was a teenager, so many, many years earlier.

And so in 2012, the police knock at his door,

and he gives them a sample,

and thinks no more about it at that point.

So back in 2004 when Andrew was on trial for this rape,

we knew that none of his DNA was ever on the victim,

but he was essentially put in jail on circumstantial and witness testimony.

That's it, yeah.

We've already reported this in the podcast series.

We know that a man was arrested in December in 2022 in Exeter.

That was Paul Quinn. What happens at that point?

Okay, so this is your interview.

In English law, you do not have to speak to us if you don't want to.

You can remain silent throughout,

but I won't think you've rude or anything like that.

He's interviewed by the police, he denies everything.

You've been arrested today at your home address at 4 o'clock.

Okay, therefore, it's on suspicion as a rape.

That rape, okay, you've had these tales of your solicits going back to

19 for July 2003 in the world.

Okay, do you want to tell me anything in relation to what you're aware of so far,

in relation to your involvement in that case, if any?

Oh, direct. There is no involvement of me in that.

Okay.

He launches this astonishing defense about how he was sleeping with so many women

and he couldn't possibly know how his DNA got there.

So when you say you go to housepartis, who would you go to these housepartis with?

Whoever went out with, whoever went out with,

whoever went out with, who was very extortable.

He was. He built this defense.

He said that every weekend, he and his friends and his brother

go out clubbing and go with girls.

We always ended up in parties. We always ended up copping off with girls.

Who was at that age?

I know he ever did, I admit. I have cheated on my wife.

I've hunted the signs with girls that we've met on nights out.

He said he even slept with girls who he met while working on fencing jobs.

I used to do a last date fencing.

So we'd be faving hours in the States, putting new fences up and hours in the States,

working on local schools, working on industrial posts near hours in the States.

So we always make girls. Always make girls.

You've got this man who looks almost,

almost loose in the way he's sitting there.

He had his arm draped over the back of the chair.

He had his legs kind of diagonally out.

He was only half-sitting on his chair as he chatted to the officers

if he was regaling them in the pub about his sexual conquests.

We've got back to their houses. We've got back to the strangers houses

where we could be right to house parties.

I would just be kisses and canoodles.

I'm just a dick con. I'm sacks of ants.

Even in the club.

I slept with a girl in the club.

Even when he was told, frankly, the stressing details about the attack,

like the bite to the nipple.

And he's not even reacting to it.

So is anything you want to say in relation to that incident?

How I just described it.

I love it.

And the first time you see Paul Quinn

is actually before he comes to trial and match at a crown court.

It's in the magistrates' court.

Can you just talk us through what happened there?

He looked very confident, cocky almost.

And he was sitting in a relatively small court room

and I was facing directly opposite him.

He wasn't in a glass dock or anything like that.

He was just looking directly ahead.

And I was initially the only female reporter there sitting in the front row.

And there was so directly opposite him that eye contact was unavoidable.

It was very unnerving seeing him in the flesh for the first time.

This person who I'd been wondering who he was for several years.

And we come to Manchester Crown Court.

He goes on trial.

It's in early March, Monday the 2nd of March,

as the official date of when the trial of Paul Quinn begins.

What exactly was he accused of?

Two counts of rape, as well as attempting to strangle

and assault intending to cause grievous bodily harm.

You arrive at Manchester Crown Court on the first day of the trial.

What was that like?

The first day of the trial is always a bit of an anticlimax

because you see Paul Quinn in the dock for the first time

and obviously hadn't seen him since magistrate's court.

And he looked very different.

You know, he was this much diminished man, you know, very pale.

He didn't have that kind of poise about him that he'd had.

But no, at the very beginning of the case,

it's actually a lot of legal arguments and back and forth.

And the trial proper really begins once the jury is sworn in.

It's a slightly odd courtroom, actually.

It's got this enormous glass dock,

which was designed for those kind of multi-hander gang trials

where you might have eight defendants sort of sitting in a row.

But here's Paul Quinn, this aging man in his polineck,

rattling around this row of seats in this kind of fishbowl

in the middle of it all.

What do we now know that happened on the early hours

of the 19th of July in 2003?

Because it was 23 years ago,

even the witnesses who came to describe what Paul Quinn's life

was like at that point.

And even what Paul Quinn said,

he was typically doing on a Saturday night at that point.

You know, we can't be exactly certain of how the night started.

But based on what he said,

it seems very likely that he was at a club called Chaffers

in Farmworth and that he'd had a boozy night,

probably taken quite a lot of drugs too,

based on what he was saying about his typical nights out.

At some point, he starts walking home

and then dragged this poor woman down a motorway embankment

and attacked her in the most horrific way.

And if you look on a map,

you've got Farmworth and this club Chaffers

and the quickest and easiest way back to Little Halton

is over the motorway bridge on Clegg's lane

and that's where the rape took place, isn't it?

Exactly.

It's one of the striking things that the police must have thought

as soon as they worked out that it was Paul Quinn's DNA,

they must have looked up his address

and thought instantly,

it's the logical route back from the nights out

he was typically taking.

As I understand it,

should flag the few people down to try and help her,

she's stumbling around just after 4.35 in the morning

after the attack, is that right?

She'd actually been trying to get help from other people.

There was a really sad description of her,

essentially, you know, kind of clutching her face,

bleeding her eyes not even properly opening

because they were so punched in.

And she's trying to flag anyone down to help her

and the cars are just driving by.

And then this man, he was just out walking his dog,

he asks her if she's okay

and she starts telling him what's happened

and he takes her back to his house to help her.

You know, when you write about this stuff,

it ends up being sanitized partly

because there's a limit to what people want to read about.

But it was really shocking to see in the court

the state of her face, for example.

You know, she was terribly injured by this attack.

So in this trial of Paul Quinn,

the victim testified.

It was 22 years on from when she first gave evidence

in the trial in which Andy Malkinson was wrongly convicted.

What was it like when she came into the courtroom?

I mean, it was really striking how vulnerable she looked.

She came in.

You know, she was holding the hand of her support worker.

She was having to wipe away tears a lot of the time

through her testimony.

She has endured so much.

I think seeing her walk in

and seeing the damage that all this has done to her

was pretty upsetting, actually.

And this is the first time that you'd ever actually seen the victim?

Yeah.

So in this country, we don't ever report

who the victim of a sexual assault is.

They have lifelong anonymity.

So unless they decide to waive it,

you'll never know who that person is.

And the day she walked into court, yeah,

that was the first time I'd ever actually seen her.

What does she say when she testifies?

Initially, a lot of the questioning was about her memories

of the aftermath of the attack

and other issues that were really ultimately

to do with the preserving of the forensics.

And then suddenly, there was this bombshell moment

where she's asked about whether she had ever expressed

any doubts that it might not be Andy.

Right, because in the original trial,

she said she was more than 100% sure

it was Malcolm's son in the courtroom.

Everybody I think was expecting her to say

when she was asked,

did you ever have any doubts before the DNA?

I think everyone just assumed she would say no.

She didn't.

She said no, actually.

When I was in court, I said I'd looked at him

and I really wasn't sure it was hit.

Wow.

So now, in 2026,

she was saying I wasn't actually sure at the time.

And not only that,

but her description of it was quite astonishing

because she was saying that somebody,

she was saying that the police had offered her reassurance.

And it said, don't worry,

you know, there'll be other evidence in this case.

It won't all be on you.

That was the kind of, in summary, what she was saying.

And then she was asked in a bit more detail

and she said somebody more senior than her,

somebody higher, I think, than a policeman was the phrase she used.

And so somebody, at least one person, if not more,

connected to that prosecution,

knew that she had real doubts

on seeing Andy in court

so that he was the man who attacked her.

What was Quinn's reaction

as he sat in the dark and she gave her testimony?

I didn't want to see him look at her.

It was almost like he was a statue sitting there

in the middle of this glass goldfish bowl,

just expressionless.

And how far apart roughly are they,

in physical terms here?

A handful of meters.

It's not far,

but the entire time he just stood ahead.

The jury were looking at him and looking at her,

and I'm sure they were just as I was looking to see

if, if at any point, he really looked,

but nothing.

Never did.

No.

I'm back outside Manchester Crown Court,

getting ready for another day.

And as I was walking here,

I was just thinking to myself,

how completely horrific yesterday

must have been for the woman at the heart of all this.

It's really difficult because

she honestly tried to tell her doubts in that trial.

She tried to tell people about them

and everything just carried on.

But I imagine she must have these

twin horrific feelings of having to give evidence

about the most horrific thing I imagine

that's ever happened in her life.

At the same time,

as also having to defend the fact that she said in court

she was certain.

In another world,

you could see somebody being,

you know, under other circumstances,

pursued for misleading the courts,

but actually my overwhelming feeling about her

was how vulnerable she was and how much she was relying

on the police and the prosecutors

and the people around her

to give her that guidance and reassurance.

Nobody stopped at that point and thought,

okay, she's looking at this man

and she doesn't think it's him.

It's pretty extraordinary.

You

Big news.

Boost Mobile is now sending experts nationwide

to deliver and set up customers new phones

at home or work.

Wait, we're going on tour?

Not a tour.

We're delivering and setting up customers' phones

so it's easier to upgrade.

Let's get in the tour bus and hit the road.

No, not a tour bus.

It's a regular car.

We use to deliver and set up customers' phones

at home or work.

Are you a group beyond this tour?

It's a deliver and set up phones.

It's not a tour.

Oh, you're definitely a groupie.

Introducing Store to Door.

Switch and get a new device with expert setup

and delivery wherever you're at.

Delivery available for select devices purchase

at boostmobile.com.

As a woman on Tripador,

you know that every connection counts.

Whether it's with your customers,

your team, or your community.

Spectrum business is here to help you build those connections

stronger and faster.

Imagine running your business with fast, reliable,

fiber-powered internet so you can stay connected to customers,

employees, and vendors without having to worry.

We know flexibility matters.

That's why select Spectrum business packages

come with a three-year price guarantee

so you can focus on running your business.

Plus, enjoy savings on internet, phone, TV,

and mobile services when you can bundle.

With Spectrum business, you get more than just internet.

You get support with 100% US-based customer service.

Real people who understand small business,

ready 24-7 to help you stay up and running.

Join millions of business owners like you across America

who trust Spectrum business for reliability, speed, and support.

Visit Spectrum.com slash business today to get started.

Restrictions apply.

Service is not available in all areas.

This podcast is supported by MIDI Health.

Are you in midlife and feeling dismissed, unheard,

or just plain tired of the old healthcare system?

You're not alone.

For too long, women's serious midlife health issues

have been trivialized, ignored, and met with a just deal with it attitude.

Many of us have been made to feel ashamed or forgotten.

In fact, even today, 75% of women seeking care for menopause

and perimenopause issues are left entirely untreated.

It's time for a change.

It's time for MIDI.

MIDI is not just a healthcare provider.

It's a women's telehealth clinic,

founded and supported by world-class leaders in women's health.

What sets MIDI apart?

We are the only women's telehealth brand

covered by major insurance companies

making high-quality, expert care, accessible, and affordable for all women.

Our clinicians provide one-on-one face-to-face consultations

where they truly listen to your unique needs.

We offer a full range of holistic data-driven solutions

from hormonal therapies and weight loss protocols

to lifestyle coaching and preventative health guidance.

This isn't one-size-fits-all care.

This is care uniquely tailored for you.

At MIDI, you will join our patients

who feel seen, heard, and prioritized.

You will find that our mission is clear

to help all women thrive in midlife,

giving them access to the healthcare they deserve.

Because we believe midlife isn't the middle at all.

It's the beginning of your second act.

Ready to feel your best and write your second act script?

Visit joinmitty.com today to book your personalized,

insurance-covered virtual visit.

That's joinmitty.com.

MIDI, the care women deserve.

ID Tech is more than just the original

and most trusted tech camp for kids ages 7 to 17.

ID Tech is where kids find their people,

the engineering and creating people,

the fire-breathing, shell-spinning, battle-bots people,

the just-as-happy building games as they are playing them people.

ID Tech offers over 50 epic courses,

like camp crunch labs, RRL,

battle-bots with take-home-bots,

and more at 75 college campuses across the country.

Visit ID Tech.com and use code ID Tech

to save $150 on a week that's guaranteed

to be the highlight of your kids' summer.

Music

A few days later, Paul Quinn's ex-wife gave testimony

and this was a big moment because obviously

they're living together at the time of this crime,

Catherine Quinn.

When we first heard that a man had been arrested for this crime

and that there was a match to the DNA,

I think everyone assumed that this would be essentially

a one-fact court case, it's a one-issue case.

The one issue being DNA.

Yeah.

To give the police credit here,

they did manage to get some fairly significant witnesses

and some extra detail that I think ultimately,

especially when you see how the defence cast doubt

on the handling of the forensics,

I think ultimately this additional work

did secure the conviction.

And one of those witnesses was Paul Quinn's ex-wife.

So she comes into court, taught me through that

because that was a key moment in the trial.

Yeah. And unlike the victim,

she did give evidence behind a curtain.

And I think it's interesting and so did an old friend of his.

Perhaps they were frightened of him making eye contact

or just frightened of how it might go.

So she gave her testimony and she describes a particular night.

She didn't remember the exact date,

but she knew it was the weekend of the attack.

It's a relatively small community.

And something like that happening,

of course it's big news because it was a stranger rape.

It plays to people's very worst fears

that it's not safe to walk home at night on your own.

But she says on the stand that she remembers

that in her words, Paul, her ex-husband had gone out that night.

She recalled the next morning discovering

that the shirt he'd worn out the night before,

which she described as a pale, whitish shirt

with faint stripes on it, how the victim had described the shirt.

She described looking for it that morning

and discovering it wasn't there when she was doing the washing.

And she was a housewife at the time with two children.

She said she did the washing every day.

The fact that she remembered the shirt

was then connected to the item on the news.

He got home late.

She doesn't remember him getting home,

but she does remember his shirt wasn't there.

And there was one point, Emily,

you're obviously in court watching this

that the prosecutor actually says to her,

when you heard about the incident,

did you say anything to your then husband

about his missing shirt?

And she responded to that, didn't she?

She said, I hope they don't find it anywhere near there.

And there being where the rape happened?

Exactly.

Do you know actually,

what's that shirt ever found?

No.

The shirt was never found,

but of course,

the fact that you had testimony from the victim

and that it was taken off during the attack, I believe.

All of that meant this white shirt was quite crucial.

So the key real breakthrough in this case

is obviously the DNA.

What happens when it comes to trial with that

and what did the jury see

and what is Paul Quinn's explanation

for how his DNA has ended up on the victim?

Yeah, so the key bit of DNA

is an area on the top of the vest top

where there was also a test that suggested

it was coming from saliva from the attacker

that matched Paul Quinn.

And it was a, you know,

it was a one in a billion match.

It was about as comprehensive as it could be.

That was ultimately

what will have made things very clear

in the jury's minds, I think,

which is that there was no doubt

this was a match to Paul Quinn.

And before that,

this had always been seen

as a key bit of evidence.

Certainly, and his legal team,

they were thinking,

well, there is an unknown male here

and that had been known for a really long time.

And they discounted Andy

because it's not Andy's DNA

and they also discounted her boyfriend at the time.

That's right,

because obviously there are innocent reasons

why, you know, her boyfriend's DNA

would be there.

And so you have to discount anyone

that I imagine they would have also

potentially discounted other people

who she saw that night.

But here we have a direct match to Paul Quinn.

And he tries to explain this away

in his police interview.

So it's quite telling that the first part

of his police interview

he is talking about all his wild nights out

and his hundreds and hundreds of conquests

in the Greater Manchester area.

You would go out most weekends,

drink, say, drugs, sleep with,

on average,

say, two girls a week.

Say, say, least one or two every week.

So that's eight a month.

Okay.

That's 90,

96 a year,

over a 16-year period.

You never use contraception once.

Okay.

And then when it transpires as the interview goes on,

oh, actually this DNA was found on the best op.

He does suddenly change tack

and he starts saying more broadly

or could have got there anyway.

So how is your DNA,

which is one in one billion

and did it on her side?

I don't know.

I really don't know.

Because I did not do this offense.

It has got to be on this major tack outfit.

You've tried to explain away the DNA

by making out as if you're slept with

the majority of Manchester over a 16-year period.

Okay.

And on the off chance that you can say

that your DNA has been left inside of victim

because you may have had sex with her at some time.

Okay.

Yeah. Well, you said I've not had sex with them all.

It's been contact.

Okay.

So you're saying your DNA could be left from contact with her?

It could have been from contact with her.

But with the DNA actually on it.

I've just done a close.

I've just explained to you where the DNA was.

Yeah, on the clothes.

Actually, I must get in the vest top

where it's been big.

So on the clothes.

On the vest top.

So a vest top.

So level could have gotten her clothes

if I had met her a couple of weeks before.

If it could have even met her that night.

I don't know.

So level could easily have passed over

and so on.

I'm not bitter.

I'm not bitter.

So that actually is quite a clever bit of police work

by not telling him exactly where this DNA is

in a much different area,

but obviously crime-specific.

Exactly.

But once he'd obviously said that in his police interview,

that's what he's got to stick with as his defence.

And it's a pretty unattractive defence.

And when Paul Quinn was in the witness box,

he sort of tries to row back on this, doesn't he?

He was asked how he felt now looking back on that behaviour

and he said, disgraced to a myself.

And then again, you know, how did he feel about having had

unprotected sex with half of Manchester?

Not how his defence phrased it, I should have had.

But certainly how he came across.

He just said disgusted.

But it was almost monosyllabic.

And when the prosecutor was cross-examining Paul Quinn,

he basically said to him, well, Mr. Quinn,

this is what you said in your police interview,

you're now rowing back on that,

but that's not what you really believe is it.

This isn't true remorse.

There's nothing particularly convincing about going

into the witness box and expressing one or two words of contrition

when you've conducted a police interview

lying back in your chair boasting about

all your sexual conquests in Manchester.

There was one thing that I wasn't expecting

that actually that comes to light during the trial.

And that's Paul Quinn's internet search history.

How did this show his guilt?

Well, this is something the police were quite proud of

because I think what was really crucial about this,

they seized his iPhone and there was nothing particularly

incriminating on his iPhone.

And then they get his Gmail account.

And suddenly they're able to see his browsing history,

going back a very long time.

And what it shows is that long before he was ever arrested

or ever had any inkling that he was a suspect,

he was obsessed with this case.

What's really interesting is that in September 2019,

his phone history shows that he opened

a Manchester evening news report of the trial from 2004.

So that's Andrew's original trial for which he's wrongly convicted

and in 2019 Paul Quinn is looking at that.

And what possesses Paul Quinn in September 2019

to be reading an original report from Andy's trial?

It's extraordinary.

And of course you've got to remember this is before the flurry of media

that has happened since and obviously before

the first article that I wrote in this case in December 2020

and before our podcast, before any of that,

he is sitting there reading about that trial.

And there was this really remarkable moment in court

where the prosecutor said to Quinn,

in 2019 there were two people who knew that Mr. Malkinson

was a wrongful conviction, him and you.

And he said, is that the truth?

And all Quinn could say was no.

What happens in 2022?

You published an article which also triggered Paul Quinn

to suddenly become very interested in the case again

in terms of his browsing history.

Yeah, and we don't know exactly what news articles he was reading

at this time, although we do know that he started

intensively going to the homepage of the Manchester evening news.

But in late July 2022,

I broke the story that there was going to be

a new forensic investigation opened in the case

into Malkinson's conviction.

Are you new DNA?

Exactly, and part of the headline of that case

made the emphasis of DNA.

And that report was then followed up by the Manchester evening news

the following day.

And then three weeks later, suddenly,

Quinn's internet history shows Google searches

that are particularly incriminating.

So he starts googling stuff like, how long is DNA

kept in the database?

And then a week after that,

why am I sweating so much all of a sudden?

And at trial, he just tries to explain this away

as an interest in true crime and just,

he doesn't really have an explanation for it.

No, I mean, his best explanation

is inquisitiveness and interest in true crime

and a concern about my health and my sweat.

Before this came to trial,

before Paul Quinn was found guilty of this crime.

Greater Manchester's a police actually got in touch with you,

didn't they, to ask to get you to help them a little bit

with what was called Operation Canopy?

Basically, what they had, at this point,

they'd obviously downloaded his whole Google history

having thought they'd drawn a blank on his iPhone.

And what they wanted to be able to do was see,

why does he suddenly start searching about DNA

and about sweating?

And also, why does he suddenly start going back

over and over and over again

to the Manchester Evening News homepage?

And what they wanted to do was to find out

when were key developments in the case reported

and see if they could cross-reference that

with what he's searching.

You know, I sent them a kind of a full list

of everything in the dates it went out

and then you could see it did correlate

to this activity that he was learning

that there was a forensic development in the case

and suddenly searching over and over again for

not just how long your DNA is stored in the database,

but can I say no of the police come asking

for DNA extraordinary?

So they use that to show to the jury

that suddenly this man that doesn't really

have much interest in news and current affairs

is suddenly reading everything about this case.

And he doesn't really have a reason to accept

maybe if he has some involvement in it.

Quite.

And what was really striking about his police interview

is that he's trying to claim he only remembers

a little bit about the attack.

He says it's something, oh yeah, I think I did.

You know, I knew about it because I think

he mentioned having daughters and this kind of thing.

But he didn't suggest he knew any great detail about it.

What do you think ultimately swayed the jury

that Paul Quinn was the true rapist?

Was the real rapist?

I mean, clearly the DNA was always,

that was the key fact that ultimately had put Paul Quinn

in court in the first place, right?

It was the DNA that got him there.

But actually what we discovered as the trial went on

is the DNA wasn't the slam dunk for a conviction

that you think it might be.

It is possible, especially after 23 years,

to cast considerable doubt over how it might have got there.

And so I think it was all these other circumstantial details,

the way that he conducted that police interview,

his internet history, his ex-wife's testimony.

I think that all combined with the DNA

to suddenly make him look extremely guilty.

Today on Friday the 17th of April, 2026,

just after 20 past three in the afternoon,

Paul Quinn was found guilty of two counts of rape,

as well as attempting to strangle and grievous bodily harm.

That's 8,102 days after Andrew Malkinson

was wrongfully convicted on the 10th of February in 2004.

Quinn, who's 52, will now be remanded in custody

until he sentenced.

He could face life imprisonment.

I think one of the really strange things

about working on a miscarriage of justice case

is that you often don't ever solve it.

All you ever usually do is cast a lot of doubts.

You think, goodness, how does this really past

the beyond reasonable doubt test

and you start gathering all the different pieces together?

It's actually really rare to get to the point where

it's not just that you've decided the man is innocent,

but that you then go on to see

the police find and arrest the true culprits.

And so it was quite astonishing.

Every time I would look over at Quinn in the dock

and just think, I don't know,

but it's something quite surreal

that this is a man who's just been living his life

for the last 23 years.

I can take off a year of that when he's been on remand,

but fundamentally, for 22 years then, let's say,

he's just been able to live the life he wanted.

He went on to have more children.

He gave not a care about his wife during that time.

He led a pretty obnoxious life in lots of ways.

Quite beyond the crime.

Just to take that aside,

he was not painted as a pleasant character.

He didn't come across as a man

who used that freedom to help society in any way.

So what did Paul Quinn do with that freedom?

Did the 52-year-old just attack this one woman 23 years ago

and then stop?

Next time, on 17 years,

the Andrew Malkinson story.

I think it's a distinct possibility

that he has committed

all the rapes of maybe a similar nature

to the one that was committed in July 2003 in Little Halton.

And what now for greater Manchester police

who handled the original investigation,

which left an innocent man in prison for almost two decades,

we've discovered multiple officers

are now facing gross misconduct charges

and one is under criminal investigation.

If these officers have misconducted themselves,

then it will absolutely be dealt with through correct procedures.

You've been listening to 17 years

the Andrew Malkinson story,

a series from The Times and The Sunday Times.

This episode was hosted by me,

series producer Will Rowe,

with Emily Dugan,

special correspondent at The Sunday Times.

Additional production by Juliet Webster,

this episode was sound designed by Tiffany Demack,

with original music by Tom Virtual.

The executive producer on this episode was Dan Box.

If you've been affected by any issues in this podcast,

there are some help lines and websites you can access.

Just go to the notes in the podcast description.

In the next episode

the test of placing your doctor's class

for more information in Spanish

visit at www.condiabonal.com

Healthcare can feel complicated.

That's why Optum uses technology

to connect the people and processes

that make healthcare easier,

more affordable and more effective.

We're making it clearer for you

to know exactly what your benefits cover.

And to help you better manage your health,

we're coordinating care

between your doctors and your technology.

We believe better, simpler healthcare

is always possible.

That's Healthy Optimism.

That's Optum.

Visit Optum.com to learn more.