Finally, justice has been served for a r@pist who escaped punishment while an innocent man was imprisoned for 17 years for his heinous attack.

In the early hours of July 19, 2003, Paul Quinn, 51, att@cked a lone woman in Little Hulton, Salford, who was walking home by herself.

The victim, a mother of small children in her 30s, was b3aten, strangled until she passed out, and ped twice in a “prolonged assault” before departing for de@d.

A year later, Andrew Malkinson became “the victim of a most terrible miscarriage of justice, one of the worst there has been” after three people mysteriously identified him as the offender.

Quinn, who at the time lived less than a mile from the scene of the att@ck, was only linked to the crime years later after scientific advances unearthed a billion-to-one DNA match. 

Mr Malkinson launched several unsuccessful appeals against his conviction, first in 2006 and then again in 2009 and 2018, before he was eventually released in December 2020. 

His conviction was overturned in July 2023. 

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court heard the victim expressed doubts about her identification of the att@ck ahead of Mr Malkinson’s trial. 

The woman, who cannot be identified, said: “I was not too sure it was the right man and [the police officer] said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just trial nerves’. 

“I was very naïve. I was scared coming into the court. I was reassured it was fine, it was the right man. 

“I said, ‘I was not sure it was the right man’ and he said it was trial nerves and a lot of people think this and it will be OK.” 

The DNA hit also ought to have set alarm bells ringing when it was initially discovered in 2007 – 13 years before he was freed, jurors heard. 

News that police had found new DNA evidence emerged in August 2022. 

Over the next several months, Quinn made hundreds of internet searches about the case, including “how long is DNA kept in a database” and “why do I keep sweating all the time”. 

AB