A man accused of a 2003 rape for which an innocent person spent 17 years in prison researched the case online before being identified through a 'one in a billion' DNA match, a court has heard.
Andrew Malkinson was freed in 2020 after being wrongly convicted of attacking a woman on a motorway embankment in Salford. The conviction was based on mistaken witness identification, Manchester Crown Court was told. It was not until 2022 that Paul Quinn, 51, was arrested in Devon after his DNA matched samples from the victim's clothing.
Prosecutor John Price KC said Quinn's internet history showed he searched for an article about Malkinson's imprisonment in 2019, before the campaign to clear his name gained publicity. He also looked up 'wrongly convicted cases uk' and later viewed the attack location on Google Maps, despite living nearly 200 miles away.
Price argued that Quinn had 'no earthly reason' for such research if he were not the rapist. The prosecutor suggested Quinn may have been 'expecting the police to come calling' because he assumed his DNA would be traced.
The court heard that Quinn's browsing habits changed significantly after news reports in July 2022 linked an unknown man to the rape through new DNA evidence. He searched for how long DNA is kept on the database and whether he could refuse to provide a sample.
Quinn, who denies strangling and raping the woman, told police he recalled 'somebody got done' for the attack but 'just forgot about it'. The trial continues.
