Four retired police officers involved in the conviction of a man jailed for 17 years for a rape he did not commit are now under investigation, a watchdog has announced.
One of the former officers has also been notified that they are under criminal investigation for potential misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.
Andrew Malkinson, 58, was jailed for rape in 2004.
He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of seven years after he was found guilty of a 2003 attack on a woman in Greater Manchester.
But he stayed in jail for another decade because he maintained his innocence.
His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal last year after DNA linking another man to the crime was produced.
The IOPC is now investigating complaints by Mr Malkinson about Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and its rape investigation leading to his conviction.
The watchdog said that serving an officer with notice they are under investigation does not necessarily mean that disciplinary proceedings or criminal charges will follow.
A previous review found delays and failings in Mr Malkinson’s case, spanning years, demonstrated a “deepseated, system-wide, cultural reluctance, which starts right at the top in the Court of Appeal, to acknowledge our criminal justice system will on occasion make mistakes, that entirely innocent defendants will sometimes be convicted”.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) admitted failing Mr Malkinson and offered an “unreserved apology.”
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