Paul Quinn has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm of a young mother in Salford, Greater Manchester, in July 2003. The sentence closes a case that left Andrew Malkinson wrongly jailed for 17 years before DNA testing finally pointed to the real attacker.
Quinn was found guilty in April, and Manchester Crown Court heard that advances in DNA science produced a billion-to-one match with saliva left on the victim's top. That evidence overturned the old identification that had put Malkinson behind bars after a police parade, and it is why this sentencing matters now: the crime is old, but the consequences are still being paid for today. Malkinson was released in 2020 after serving 17 years in prison.
The woman at the centre of the case told the court she lived in constant fear that someone was behind her, and said it was one night that changed her life. Mr Justice Bright said the attack was unusually violent and described Quinn's conduct towards both the victim and Malkinson as evil. He said the victim was vulnerable because she was alone and attacked in the dead of night, and that Quinn made a careful selection of the location before taking her mobile phone so she could not call police or get help.
Bright said Quinn left her unconscious and seriously injured in an isolated spot and effectively left her for dead. He also said Quinn disposed of evidence and had been drinking heavily that night, likely while also consuming cannabis, speed or ecstasy. The judge praised the woman as a remarkable person and called her a hero, but the sentence also leaves one unanswered question hanging over the case: why it took until 2022 for DNA testing to identify Quinn in a 2003 attack that had already destroyed another man’s life.
