Calls to review ‘unduly lenient’ sentence for rapist in Andrew Malkinson miscarriage of justice

The government’s most senior law officer has been asked to review the “unduly lenient” prison sentence handed to a rapist who evaded police for nearly two decades in one of Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice. Paul Quinn was jailed last week for a minimum of 14 years , meaning he could spend less time in prison than Andrew Malkinson, who was wrongly convicted of his crime. Malkinson, 60, spent 17 years behind bars before his conviction was quashed in 2023. He said he was “insulted and appalled” that Quinn had “got off so lightly”. Yasmin Qureshi, a Labour MP, said on Monday she had written to the attorney general, Richard Hermer, to request the sentence be reviewed. The attorney general has the power to refer a case to a court of appeal if they think the sentence is too lenient. Qureshi said: “This conviction was meant to close the door on one of the gravest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen. An innocent man spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. “A woman who was raped and subjected to appalling violence has had to relive that trauma in court, more than 20 years on, to ensure that the man who attacked her was finally held to account.” She added: “It cannot be right that the actual perpetrator of these crimes may serve less time in prison than the innocent man who was wrongly convicted for them. …