Other prisoners could be freed by case reviews

Andrew Malkinson says he says he knows “at least half a dozen people” currently in prison who he believes could be exonerated if their cases were reviewed.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Malkinson – who served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit – described the failures in the process for reviewing potential miscarriages of justice as a “human rights atrocity”.

His comments come following the publication of an independent review that found he was completely failed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – a key agency reviewing his case.

The review’s lead, Chris Henley KC, has called for a “trawl” of similar cases.

He told Radio 4’s Today programme that it would be “far too complacent” to say that what had happened to Mr Malkinson was an “outlying aberration”.

“There must be other cases where there are fresh opportunities for retesting DNA samples and that should be undertaken as a matter of urgency,” Mr Henley said.