Man who spent 17 years in jail for crime he didn’t commit says he has ‘weird feeling’ around women

Andrew Malkinson has said he is concerned he might be ‘too damaged’ for a new relationship after spending 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

The 57-year-old finally had his conviction overturned last week, more than two and a half years after he was freed from HMP North Sea Camp in Boston, Lincolnshire.

In an interview with the MailOnline, he revealed he has since moved back to the Netherlands – where he had been living before his trial in 2003 – and is living with friends.

Mr Malkinson also said he had contemplated suicide in prison, which he described as like a ‘North Korean totalitarian state’, but decided he should not as it would be taken as evidence of his guilt.

Asked if he would be able to begin a new relationship, he said: ‘I don’t know if I’m too damaged, because I am damaged.

‘It would be nice to think that I could, but I can’t see it yet.’

He added that he has a ‘weird feeling of being observed’ when he is around women.

Mr Malkinson said he had been ‘confused’ when the victim claimed to recognise him in an identity parade ahead of his trial, bolstering the case against him.

‘I couldn’t understand why she would say that, but now, having studied these things, I know more about how the human brain works,’ he said.

‘It is not a video that accurately replays what happens.

‘What happened to her was not her fault. The blame lies with the police.’

Yesterday, the government announced it would be scrapping a rule that said people with wrongful convictions could have living cost ‘savings’ deducted from their compensation.

There had been widespread outrage over the practice after it was was highlighted by Mr Malkinson in the days after his conviction was quashed.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said it was a ‘commonsense change’, adding: ‘It is not right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can have deductions made for saved living expenses.’

Mr Malkinson welcomed the announcement, but said it was the ‘first of many changes we need in our justice system to protect the innocent’.

He has demanded wider reform, raising concerns about the police’s handling of evidence and the ability of juries to convict on a 10-2 majority.

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