Justice Secretary David Lammy has said he is “open” to looking at how jailed Andrew Malkinson “had to meet his own legal costs”.
Mr Malkinson has criticised the deduction of up to £10,000 in legal costs from his compensation for the 17 years he was imprisoned for a rape he did not commit in Salford.
The victim of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British criminal history had urged ministers to stop the “penny-pinching”.
Mr Lammy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: “I’m very keen to meet with Andrew Malkinson and to understand his concerns in great detail and of course my heart goes out to him.
“I am sorry that he experienced a justice system which was hugely unjust in relation to his case and his condition.
“The Law Commission are looking at this issue. We have increased compensation for people in these circumstances.”
The Deputy Prime Minister added: “I am open to looking at the detail of his case and looking at those circumstances in which he had to meet his own legal costs.”
Mr Malkinson was jailed in 2004 until his conviction was quashed in 2023 after years of protesting his innocence.
Discussing the compensation, he told the Today programme on Tuesday: “They insisted on structuring it such that I need experts to evaluate the damage done to me, and so now they are going to deduct my expenses for the experts, which could be up to £10,000 under legal fees from my compensation, so I have to pay for my own damage assessment and legal fees.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all to do that, except to say obviously they’re trying to claw back as much as possible. They’re penny-pinching.
“I think this is something that (Justice Secretary) David Lammy could fix with the stroke of a pen tomorrow easily.
“It’s really wrong, it feels vindictive. Why doesn’t the state, the perpetrator of the injustice, pay the costs for the experts and legal fees, because they caused the damage, not me?”
Paul Quinn, 52, was found guilty of the 2003 sex attack on April 17 this year after a six-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Quinn attacked a young mother as she walked home in Little Hulton in the early hours of the morning on July 19, 2003.
Mr Malkinson, who was a security guard at a local shopping centre, protested his innocence but was wrongly picked out at an identity parade and jailed.
By Sam Hall, Press Association
