Andrew Malkinson has been awarded compensation for the miscarriage of justice he suffered – but the relief of finally receiving payment comes with the distressing possibility that he may lose his home as a result.
The first instalment of his compensation arrived nearly 18 months after the Court of Appeal overturned his wrongful conviction. However, the payment is not exempt from means testing for state support, putting his access to social housing at risk.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Thursday, Mr Malkinson expressed both relief and anxiety over his situation.
“I am intensely relieved to finally be getting an interim payment. It still hasn’t really quite sunk in,” he said. “It is good news, and the implications seem endless, and many are good, but I am really anxious about losing my home.
“I got a social housing flat to live in that has been my refuge – you might think it is small, but after a prison cell, it feels massive.”
He questioned why compensation for victims of miscarriages of justice should be treated differently from other forms of state compensation.
“I understand that in other compensation schemes, payments like this are not counted when they are assessing you for benefits – why should the scheme for people like me, who have been effectively kidnapped by the state, be any different?
“The Government can fix this, and I hope they do so before I am forced to leave my home, which is just one more thing to worry about.”
Lingering effects of a wrongful conviction
Mr Malkinson’s case has highlighted the wider struggles faced by victims of miscarriages of justice, not just in securing compensation but also in rebuilding their lives.
His legal representatives argue that the impact of his wrongful conviction is ongoing, with interactions with state agencies serving as a constant reminder of the ordeal he endured.
A spokesperson for the campaign group supporting Mr Malkinson stated: “It is not just about the fact that Andy was wrongly imprisoned. It is that every interaction he has with the state reminds him of his wrongful conviction, even if it is just the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) demanding he attend a meeting or send in a document.
“Andy will never trust the state again – and who can blame him?”
Calls for policy change
Lawyer Toby Wilton, who represented Mr Malkinson in his compensation claim, criticised the Government’s approach to supporting victims of miscarriages of justice.
Speaking on a radio programme on Thursday, Mr Wilton said: “There’s another, I think, symptom of successive governments not really having applied their minds to the statutory scheme for miscarriage of justice or, as we’ve seen with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), to miscarriages of justice generally.
“And that is that, unlike other compensation payments – for example, payments made to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire – payments under the miscarriage of justice scheme are not exempted when it comes to assessment for state support.
“This means that just by virtue of having received this very happy news from me that he has been awarded payments, Andy now faces the prospect of losing the social housing that he waited a very long time to be given.”
Campaigners are urging the Government to amend the rules to ensure that compensation for wrongful convictions is exempt from means testing, allowing victims to rebuild their lives without facing additional bureaucratic barriers.
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Government response
The Government has yet to comment on whether it will review the rules governing compensation payments for victims of miscarriages of justice.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice stated: “We recognise the significant impact a wrongful conviction can have on an individual’s life and are committed to ensuring that those affected receive fair compensation.”
However, campaigners argue that fairness should extend beyond financial compensation to include practical support that enables victims to reintegrate into society without the fear of further hardship.
As Mr Malkinson awaits clarity on his situation, he remains uncertain about his future. While his conviction has been overturned, his battle for justice is far from over. The prospect of losing his home is yet another burden he should not have to bear after already enduring years of wrongful imprisonment.
