The wrongful imprisonment of Andrew Malkinson remains one of the biggest legal injustices the country has seen. In 2003, Andrew was convicted and jailed for the rape of a 33-year-old woman in Salford, Greater Manchester . He spent 17 years behind bars, but it wasn’t until he reached 57 that Andrew was declared innocent and, in July last year, he was released, with the Court of Appeal hearing allegations of major failures.
However, while Andrew maintained his innocence, his sister struggled to wrap her head around the matter. Sarah, who had not seen her brother in 10 years by this point, didn’t want to accept he was capable of such a brutal crime, but when that guilty verdict was handed down, she felt she had no choice but to accept he was culpable. Consequently, she disowned Andrew, maintaining distance while their mother, Tricia, campaigned to free him and have the conviction overturned.
The family relive events of the last 20 years in a new BBC Two documentary, The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars, with Sarah recalling to cameras how she washed her hands of Andrew – before becoming wracked by guilt after he was declared innocent. ‘My brother had been convicted and you kind of believe that he must be this person that they are saying he is,’ she begins. ‘As much as I don’t really want to say this, but I am going to say it, like, I didn’t want anything to do with them, which affected me.
Because it’s like, “I don’t want anything to do with him.” I did th.
