Police and CPS had key DNA evidence 16 years before Andrew Malkinson cleared of rape

Andrew Malkinson, who served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Police and prosecutors in the Andrew Malkinson case knew there was another man’s DNA on the victim’s clothes in 2007 – three years after he was wrongly convicted of rape – but he remained in prison for another 13 years.

Malkinson was cleared by the appeal court last month after spending 17 years in prison for a 2003 rape he did not commit. His exoneration came after fresh DNA testing linked another man to the crime.