Andrew Malkinson still hasn’t received compensation three years after his release

A man who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape is still waiting for compensation three years after his release.

The conviction of Andrew Malkinson, 58, for a sexual assault near Bolton in 2003 was overturned last year.

Emily Bolton, the attorney who represented him during the criminal appeal, said he felt “the state was trying to break him.”

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was trying to make a decision on compensation “as quickly as possible”.

Mr Malkinson’s conviction was overturned in July after the Court of Appeal heard arguments that major errors had been made in the handling of the case against him.

Ms Bolton said: Today Program He said he was “definitely still struggling” and was frustrated by requests for information he had to provide to the Department for Work and Pensions in order to qualify for benefits.

He said: “It’s about being untrustworthy. What more does Andy have to prove?”

Ms Bolton said Mr Malkinson should have received an interim compensation payment “yesterday”.

Instead he said he received a letter telling him the average waiting time for compensation was 31 weeks.

“Andy, don’t get caught up in the statistics, it’s a really simple case… I can’t tell you how frustrating and ugly this is from where you’re sitting.

“Thirty-one weeks is seven months, which takes it into next spring, which is their average processing time.

“So why is it taking so long for a government that has already acknowledged that he was wrongfully convicted to accept him into a program that provides compensation to wrongfully convicted people?”

Mr Malkinson fought for 20 years to prove his innocence in the rape of a Salford mother-of-two who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He could have been released after six and a half years if he had made a false confession, something he said he was never willing to do.

Ms Bolton said that because the compensation system had changed, those released from prison after convictions were overturned were no longer automatically compensated.

He said: “This system is absolutely not fit for purpose because it is so slow and there are so many aspects of it that Andy has had to challenge… those fights have taken time but now… the secretary of state just has to approve it into the programme.

“And once that approval is received, he or she can apply for provisional payment.”

But he warned that this too “will take time”.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We have made clear that those who suffer devastating miscarriages of justice, such as Andrew Malkinson, should not have to use their compensation to take legal action against those responsible.

“We are working to make a decision on Mr Malkinson’s compensation application as soon as possible.”