UK Man Comes Out 17 Years After Wrong Rape Conviction: "Kidnapped By State"
Mr Malkinson was jailed in 2004 after being found guilty of attacking a woman in Salford.
Andy Malkinson speaks to the press outside the court.A man who had been imprisoned for 17 years for a rape he did not commit was finally let free on Wednesday after his conviction was overturned by justices on the appeals court.
British national Andrew Malkinson's conviction was overturned as a result of the finding of fresh DNA evidence linking a different potential suspect to the crime.
According to the BBC, Malkinson was sentenced to prison in 2004 for the attack on a woman in Salford, despite his repeated denials to the contrary.
In January, the Court of Appeal was asked to review his case because fresh information suggested that there might be another suspect.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Malkinson claimed he had felt "kidnapped by the state" for the previous two decades.
I was innocent, and at last they paid attention. However, for each of the 20 years before to today, I was innocent, claimed 57-year-old Mr. Malkinson.
It took over 20 years to convince my captors to let me free.
Mr. Malkinson's conviction was reversed by Lord Justice Holroyd, who declared that he could "leave the court free and no longer be subject to the conditions of licence."
Police also apologized for what they called a "grave miscarriage of justice".
When a jury determines that you are guilty when you are innocent, reality does not alter, Mr. Malkinson remarked outside the court.
Even though you are aware that you did not commit the crime, everyone around you begins to treat you as though you had been guilty.
Now that I've been cleared, I'm left outside the court without an apology or an explanation, without a job or a place to live, and I'm expected to just disappear back into society without mentioning the enormous black hole they created in my life.
A huge black hole that I'm afraid will swallow me whole is behind me.
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