Rapist Paul Quinn sentenced for attack which saw innocent man Andrew Malkinson jailed for 17 years
Paul Quinn, 52, was sentenced to 24 years in prison at Manchester Crown Court for the rape that led to the wrongful imprisonment of an innocent man, Andrew Malkinson, in 2003.
Mr Malkinson was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of raping the 33-year-old woman.
He was released from prison in 2020 and his conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2023 after DNA evidence proved he was not the attacker.
Quinn was convicted of rape in April.
Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Bright said his victim was a “hero”.
The judge said: “The person I will remember in this case for the rest of my life is Paul Quinn, not you.
“He is truly a hero.”
Mr Justice Bright said it was clear how “unbearable” it was for him to come to court a second time.
“He’s an extraordinary person,” he said.
He said the woman was brutally strangled during the attack and “she thought she was going to die.”
He was lucky not to suffer serious brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.
Police attention “quickly” focused on Mr Malkinson and Quinn visited an old news report on the matter. Manchester Evening News His Honor Judge Bright said there was a website dated 2004 relating to the other man’s conviction.
This, he said, showed that Quinn was aware of both what he was doing to the woman and the knock-on effect it had on Mr Malkinson.
“None of this seems to have bothered you at any point over the past 20-plus years,” he added.
“It is clear that you knew all along that another man had been arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned.
“You knew his conviction was unjust.”
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