Paul Quinn sentenced to minimum 14 years for 2003 Salford rape that wrongly imprisoned Andrew Malkinson

Paul Quinn, 52, was sentenced on Friday to a minimum of 14 years in prison for the 2003 rape of a woman in Salford, a crime for which Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years wrongly imprisoned. The sentence, handed down at Manchester Crown Court by Mr Justice Bright, means Quinn will be eligible for parole after 14 years — three years short of the term Malkinson served before his conviction was quashed in 2023.

Bright described the attack as an act of “direct physical evil” and said it was a “minor miracle” that the victim survived. The rape occurred in the early hours of 19 July 2003 as the woman walked home from her boyfriend’s house in Salford. Quinn followed her for about a mile before dragging her into secluded woodland, where he strangled her unconscious, raped her twice, and punched her with such force that her cheekbone was fractured. Her nipple was partially severed from a bite. Bright said the woman was “very lucky she did not die and luckier still that she did not incur significant brain damage.”

Quinn was found guilty in April after fresh DNA analysis identified traces of his DNA on the victim’s clothing. Police and prosecutors had known as early as 2007 that an unidentified man’s DNA was on the woman but decided not to carry out further tests at the time. Quinn’s DNA was eventually identified on samples of her clothing in October 2022 after a fresh forensic review.

At the time of the rape, Quinn was a convicted sex offender who lived near the scene in the Little Hulton area of Salford but was not investigated. Instead, detectives focused on Malkinson, who was jailed in 2004 and spent 17 years in prison protesting his innocence. Malkinson’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2023, becoming one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in modern British history.

Malkinson, 60, said he was “insulted and appalled” that Quinn had “got off so lightly.” He added: “I hope that this man does not get parole and that he serves longer than me. Anything less is not justice.” Outside court, sources close to the Quinn investigation suggested the sentence could be referred to the attorney general’s office for being too lenient.

The victim, now in her late 50s, sat at the back of the courtroom and wiped away tears as Quinn was sentenced. In a statement read to the court, she said the ordeal “has stayed with me and will remain with me for life.” She added: “Every day I look at my face and see the disfigurement, the scarring. It is a permanent reminder of that night and what I experienced. I have to live with that.” She said that 23 years after the attack she lived with “permanent anxiety” and “in constant fear that someone is behind me, even in places that others wouldn’t consider a risk, like the supermarket.” She added: “For him, it was one night of his life. For me it was one night that changed my life.”

Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a life sentence, but Bright declined, saying he was satisfied that Quinn had changed his lifestyle since 2017, when he left Salford after a drugs dispute, although he still presented “a significant risk of serious harm – not indefinitely, but for a period of some years.” Bright noted that people who committed “random acts of violence … could do that up until their dying breath” but that with rape “there comes a time in life where that is less of a danger.” Quinn will serve a maximum of 21 years in prison but will be eligible to apply to the Parole Board for release after 14 years. His release would depend on an assessment of whether he continued to pose a risk and whether he had taken responsibility for his crime, which he continues to deny.

Quinn was convicted of twice raping a 12-year-old girl in 1990 and 1991, when he was 16. Four years earlier, when he was 12, he received a criminal caution for the indecent assault of a woman. He also has historical convictions for burglary, actual bodily harm, possessing an air gun, and arson with intent after setting fire to a wheelie bin outside the home of an ex-girlfriend while she was inside with her children. It emerged during the trial that he had repeatedly searched online for details about the Malkinson case, including before it was widely known as a miscarriage of justice.

Quinn is being investigated as a potential suspect in other serious sexual assaults, including three rapes. The case is now being examined by a judge-led inquiry and by the police watchdog. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating five former Greater Manchester police officers on suspicion of gross misconduct, including one who is under criminal investigation. A sixth officer, still serving in the force, is being investigated on suspicion of misconduct. The IOPC is examining Greater Manchester police’s destruction of evidence in the Malkinson case, its failure to disclose the criminal histories of two key witnesses in the 2004 trial, and whether those witnesses were offered incentives to testify against the innocent man.