Malkinson 'vindicated' after review body chair quits

Andy Malkinson says Helen Pitcher had been "made accountable"

A man who spent 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit has said he feels "vindicated" by the resignation of the chair of the miscarriages of justice review body.

Helen Pitcher had been heavily criticised for the failings of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in relation to Andy Malkinson's case.

Ms Pitcher told the Times she had been made a scapegoat but Mr Malkinson said she had been "made accountable".

"She's been complaining that she's been made a scapegoat but I was made a scapegoat, she has been made accountable and I feel vindicated," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Last summer, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood began the formal process of sending a recommendation to the King that Ms Pitcher should go, after personally concluding that she was not fit to head the CCRC.

That decision came after a damning independent report , into how the CCRC had mishandled Mr Malkinson's pleas for help, and how the chair herself had presented its work on his case.

While he was in jail, the CCRC twice rejected Mr Malkinson's submissions that he was innocent. The second of those rejections came after Ms Pitcher had become chair in 2018.

'Patently untrue'

He was only cleared in 2023 after exhaustive work by his own legal team tracked down the long-available DNA evidence that showed another man must have committed the rape in 2003.

The first of two independent reviews - commissioned by the CCRC itself - found that the body had failed to complete basic work that could have cast doubt on Mr Malkinson's conviction. It said Mrs Pitcher's statements as chair had not properly reflected these failings.

Ms Pitcher told the Times that she was not in charge the first time Mr Malkinson's appeal was rejected and that he was released "on her watch" armed with new DNA evidence that the CCRC uncovered Mr Malkinson was released.

Mr Malkinson told the Today programme this was not true and that Appeal, a charity and law firm that challenges wrongful convictions, was the one that uncovered the DNA evidence.

"Appeal did all the work that Ms Pitcher has claimed credit for," he said.

"This has made people quite angry and I feel quite emotional about it.

"It's patently untrue that CCRC did all the work to set me free it was Appeal that set me free."

Helen Pitcher told the Times she had been made a scapegoat

Mr Malkinson is now calling for a "root and branch" reform of the CCRC.

"It's the entire culture of 'it's not our fault we're blameless and we're doing the best possible job'," he said.

"This narrative is completely untrue and it has to be reformed because it's the static culture there that's the biggest problem."

He said he was also waiting for compensation from the government for his wrongful conviction.

"I'm still waiting, I don't understand why. From this vantage point it looks like I'm just waiting for a signature which seems a little silly," he said.

"This is not a complicated case so why don't they just send me an interim payment so I can pay my bills and travel and not be dependent on the department of work and pensions."

A second, judge-led, inquiry into wider alleged failings into all agencies, including Greater Manchester Police which first accused Mr Malkinson of the crime, is continuing.

Despite the criticisms of Ms Pitcher, ministers had no power to sack her directly because the CCRC is an independent criminal justice body.

The chair is appointed by the King to ensure the agency's separation from ministers, prosecutors and judges.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said on Tuesday that it welcomed her resignation.

"Given the importance of the CCRC's work, we will appoint an interim chair as quickly as possible who will be tasked with conducting a full and thorough review of how the organisation operates," they added.

The CCRC has been contacted for comment.