Parker added: “Paul Quinn is a dangerous man. He is the one responsible for this horrific attack, and he has known it all along for more than 20 years.
“The harm he has done to the victim and the cowardice of watching the wrong man go to prison for his crime is unforgivable.”
When the victim gave evidence against Malkinson in 2003 she had doubts she had picked out the right man, but police dismissed this as “just trial nerves”.
The DNA sample from the vest top, only recovered and identified in 2007, was analysed and ruled out Malkinson, which was a development which “ought to have set alarm bells ringing”, the court heard.
Quinn had given a DNA sample in 2012, as police collected samples from known sex offenders.
In August 2022, after testing became more advanced, news broke that police had matched the vest top DNA sample to another man.
The trial heard that this development had a “profound” effect on Quinn’s internet usage.
Quinn told jurors it was a “complete coincidence” he had begun scouring the news for information on the Malkinson case and repeatedly searched Google, asking: “How long is DNA kept in database”, and, “Why do I keep sweating all the time…”
He also searched up “wrongful convictions” in the UK.
Quinn, who divorced in 2016, had moved from Salford following a drugs dispute, the court heard.
He was arrested in December 2022 after moving to Exeter, where he was working as a delivery driver.
