A witness in a trial told a jury he had “no doubt” about the man he had picked out in an identity parade, who went on to serve 17 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted of rape.
Michael Seward, now deceased, had given evidence in the trial of Andrew Malkinson, an innocent man accused of a brutal rape in Little Hulton, Salford, in 2003.
The rape victim, as well as Mr Seward and his then partner, Beverley Craig, all picked out Mr Malkinson as the attacker – but he was in fact the victim of a miscarriage of justice, Manchester Crown Court has heard.
Mr Seward’s evidence at the 2004 trial of Mr Malkinson was read on Tuesday to the jury at the trial of Paul Quinn, 51, who was later linked to the rape by fresh DNA evidence after Mr Malkinson was exonerated.
Mr Seward had told the jury he had twice driven past the rape suspect who appeared to be stalking the victim in the vicinity of Cleggs Lane in Salford shortly before the attack on July 19 2003.
He said he attended a digital ID parade and picked out Mr Malkinson, and at the trial told the jury he had “no doubt” he was the man he saw, adding: “I picked the person I saw that night”, and that he was “absolutely not mistaken”.
Earlier, prosecutor John Price KC told jurors it was Quinn, not Mr Malkinson, who had really carried out the rape, even though it was “difficult to believe” three people could all have identified the wrong man.
On Monday, the rape victim told Quinn’s trial she had doubts about her identification of the rapist at Mr Malkinson’s trial, but police told her it was normal to have second thoughts and put it down to “trial nerves”.
Mr Malkinson first appealed against his conviction in 2006, but this was dismissed.
He then made two more attempts, in 2009 and 2018, to ask the Criminal Cases Review Commission to send his case to the Court of Appeal, but both were rejected.
His final attempt in 2021 led to his appeal against his conviction being allowed by the Court of Appeal.
Quinn, aged 29 at the time of the attack and who lived locally before moving to Exeter, Devon, was only linked to the crime years later, after scientific advances matched his DNA profile from samples left on the victim.
The DNA findings estimate it would be at least one billion times more likely if Quinn was a contributor to the sample found at the crime scene than if he was not.
The defendant has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm and attempting to choke or strangle his victim to render her unconscious while he carried out the attack.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
By Pat Hurst, Press Association
