Criminal Cases Review Commission told to urgently improve after Malkinson failings | Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) urgently needs to improve its investigations to avoid a repeat of failings such as those in the Andrew Malkinson scandal, a watchdog has found.
Anthony Rogers, chief investigator for the Crown Prosecution Service, made the warning after an independent review of case studies by the agency, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.
The CCRC was heavily criticized for its handling of the Malkinson case, one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. As a result, its CEO and chairman resigned and former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird was appointed interim chairman to overhaul the organisation.
In a report published on Thursday, the watchdog said the “lack of proactive, effective case study quality assurance is a significant gap that the CCRC must urgently address.”
The watchdog staff examined a sample of 60 cases and made 34 recommendations to overcome a range of “weaknesses”, delays and inefficiencies.
Rogers told reporters that the CCRC could “improve significantly and provide a much better service” by introducing the recommendations, but the changes “will not guarantee that there won’t be another high-profile failure”.
“On quality and review of casework, better case strategy, much more monitoring of case progress, challenges to unnecessary work, cases at the CCRC should not come to the position of the Andrew Malkinson case,” he said.
Malkinson was imprisoned for 17 years for a rape he did not commit and was twice turned away by the CCRC until his legal team carried out crucial DNA testing, which was later repeated by the commission and led to his release.
The investigation revealed that he could have been released 10 years earlier if the CCRC had obtained new DNA evidence as early as 2009. Thousands of cases are being investigated following botched handling of the case.
Real rapist Paul Quinn was sentenced to 21 years in prison last month.
According to the audit report, the CCRC is dealing with 102 long-standing cases and has seen a “steady increase” in the number of applications over the past few years; 1,841 applications were submitted in 2025-26.
Rogers noted that the body had a “checkered history” and “cultural issues” but ultimately said it was fit for purpose.
Staff were committed to their jobs and drew “solid conclusions” about the cases, but they were required to avoid “unnecessary avenues of investigation” and pursue “invalid avenues of investigation” and instead focus on investigating the “right things”.
He said: “There have been a number of high-profile failures that have led to a lot of criticism, but overall I think the CCRC ultimately made the right decision and in the cases we looked at, and it is the word ‘ultimately’ that we are concerned about.
“I think there are cultural problems in the organization. Our general opinion is that they are not a failed organization. There are many things they need to do, but ultimately they are fit for purpose,” he said.
