Rape victim 'warned police about innocent suspect'

A woman who picked out Andy Malkinson in a video identity parade after being raped has told a jury she later had doubts he was the man who had attacked her after seeing him in court, but police officers told her she had "got the right man" and it was just "trial nerves".

Manchester Crown Court has heard the woman was attacked and raped in Salford in 2003. Malkinson was wrongfully convicted and spent 17 years in jail.

Speaking at the trial of Paul Quinn, the woman said she was "very naive" and had "listened to what the police said" when she raised her identification concerns.

Quinn, 51, denies rape, strangulation and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

Jurors have heard how the woman was attacked in July 2003 after being stalked though Little Hulton, near Bolton.

The attacker pounced on her and dragged her into a secluded wooded area close to the M61 motorway.

There, he strangled her unconscious and raped her twice.

She has no memory of the rape and did not know her attacker.

Weeks later, she picked Malkinson out during a police video identification procedure.

She then gave evidence at his 2004 trial which led to his conviction.

Lisa Wilding KC, representing Quinn, said that the woman's account to police and evidence at the trial in 2004 showed that she had been 100% sure about the man who had attacked her.

"At no stage, did you go to the police and say that you got that wrong," said the barrister.

"I did," replied the woman. "I can't remember [when] ... I weren't too sure it was the right man."

She explained to the jury she had raised her concerns with police at court after seeing Malkinson in person.

"I was very naive," she said. "I listened to what the police said and what they told me to do. And they said it was fine, it was the right man.

"They said it was trial nerves."

Asked if she could remember specifically who it was who had reassured her, the woman replied it was someone "higher" than a policeman.

She added that when she later revealed her doubts to her husband, he too sought to reassure her.

"Just to be clear," said Wilding, "Are you saying that you knew you got the wrong identification, but you told the jury it was the right one?"

"No," the woman replied. "I said I was unsure because I had not seen him with glasses - it threw me a bit in court."

Quinn, aged 29 at the time of the attack, was only linked to the crime years later, after scientific advances matched his DNA profile from samples left on the victim.

The DNA findings estimate it would be at least one billion times more likely if Quinn was a contributor to the sample found at the crime scene than if he was not.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, grievous bodily harm and strangulation.