Paul Quinn has been sentenced to 24 years for a rape in 2003 that sent an innocent man to prison for nearly two decades.
The 24-year sentence was handed down at Manchester Crown Court on Friday, June 5, 2026, more than two decades after Quinn attacked a young mother walking home through the streets of Little Hulton in the early hours of 2003. The woman, then 33, had been at her boyfriend’s home and decided to walk home on foot when she was swept off her feet and pushed down a motorway embankment, where she was knocked unconscious, raped and brutally attacked.
“Paul Quinn sentenced to 24 years for 2003 rape; innocent Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in prison.”
The judge, Mr Justice Bright, described the assault as “direct physical evil” and praised the victim as a “hero” for coming forward to give testimony a second time. Her husband sat beside her in court, sharing a caring word or glance, as she relived the worst day of her life.
What followed the attack became one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the English criminal justice system. Andrew Malkinson, a wholly innocent man, was wrongly picked out as the attacker and spent 17 years in prison before being cleared.
In court, the judge said it was “utterly clear that you knew, throughout, that another man had been arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned.” Quinn’s internet search history revealed he had actively researched Malkinson’s plight as he remained a free man. “You knew that his conviction was wrongful. You also knew that it was extremely useful to you,” the judge said. “It must have preyed on your conscience that another man was in prison, in effect serving your sentence; it certainly should have preyed on your conscience. But you were only too willing to sit back and take advantage of his misfortune.”
The victim said in her impact statement: “After 20 years, I now have justice but that does not change the fact that two lives have been impacted in such a way. I am aware that someone has had 17 years robbed as a result of this case and that stays with me.”
But Malkinson said he was insulted and appalled at Quinn’s sentence, arguing he had got off lightly. “It is true that you never did anything positive to implicate Mr Malkinson,” the judge had noted. “However, but for your offending, he would never even have been questioned.”
Quinn remained emotionless throughout the hearing as the judge delivered the sentence that finally closed the latest chapter in a saga that has left two lives shattered — one by the attack itself, the other by years of wrongful imprisonment.