Andrew Malkinson: Wrongly jailed man ‘at risk of losing housing’

The lawyer for Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, has said his client is at risk of losing access to social housing because he has started to receive compensation.

Mr Malkinson has received an initial payment following the miscarriage of justice he suffered after the Court of Appeal quashed his 2004 conviction for a rape in Salford.

Lawyer Toby Wilton welcomed news of the payment but said because the money was not exempted from the assessment for state support his client could lose social housing access.

Mr Wilton had previously criticised the £1 million cap on compensation payouts, arguing it should be lifted.

He told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: “This is another symptom of successive governments not really having applied their minds to the statutory scheme for miscarriage of justice – or as we’ve seen with the CCRC (Criminal Cases Review Commission), to miscarriages of justice.

“And that is that unlike other compensation payments – for example, payments made to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire – payments under the miscarriage justice scheme are not exempted when it comes to assessment for state support.

“Which means that just by virtue of having received this very happy news from me that he has been awarded payments, Andy now faces prospects of losing the social housing that he waited a very long time to be given.”

Emily Bolton, from legal charity Appeal which represented Mr Malkinson in challenging his wrongful conviction, said: “£1m for Andy would work out to far less than £59,000 per year he spent wrongly imprisoned. Would you agree to be locked up in prison for nearly two decades for a rape you did not commit if you were offered that amount?

“£1m in compensation might sound like a lot, but the government includes in this ‘compensation’ expert and legal costs involved in applying for compensation, which get deducted from that amount if Andy is awarded up to, or over, the cap.

She added: “No amount of money can truly compensate for the world of pain inflicted on Andy but it can go a lot closer.

“Any compensation will also need to be stretched to cover his treatment and care costs, as well as housing and living costs for the rest of his life.

“The government should completely reboot the whole scheme so that innocent people released from prison immediately have the means to start rebuilding their shattered lives.”

Mr Malkinson had his conviction quashed in 2023 after years protesting his innocence, but has faced a long wait since then for compensation from the Ministry of Justice.

The 59-year-old, who was a security guard working in Salford before his arrest, was convicted in 2004 and chances to free him were repeatedly missed, leading to one of the worst miscarriages of justice in UK legal history.

Following news of his initial payment, Mr Malkinson said he “would hesitate to say that I am grateful, but I am relieved the Ministry of Justice has finally done the right thing to lift me out of limbo”.

The amount of compensation has not been revealed but The Guardian reported he would receive a “significant” six-figure sum as an interim payment this week.