Trinity Advocates Concludes Manchester Crown Court sentencing of client Paul Quinn, for 2003 Offences after High-Profile Miscarriage of Justice Case of Andrew Malkinson.
Today Exeter man, Paul Quinn was sentenced to 21 years, with an extended licence of 3 years, for offences of rape, causing grievous bodily harm and strangulation by Mr Justice Bright at Manchester Crown Court. Mr Quinn was convicted after trial for offences that Mr Andrew Malkinson had served 17 years for before his convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal after years of campaigning and DNA evidence scrutiny in 2022, generating national interest.
Mr Quinn was first arrested for the same offences and interviewed by Greater Manchester Police at Exeter Police Station in 2022 when he was challenged with new DNA evidence that helped exonerate Mr Malkinson.
From this first arrest until today’s sentencing, Mr Quinn has been represented by Trinity Advocates, and in particular by Partner Peter Seigne. After proceedings went to Court, Trinity Advocates instructed Lisa Wilding KC of 23 Essex Street Chambers, who led with Junior Counsel, Catherine Oborne of Garden Court Chambers and Rebecca Filletti of Lincoln House Chambers.
Mr Malkinson’s high profile miscarriage of justice case was followed by Mr Quinn’s 4 week long trial which was itself the subject of wide-scale media and public interest.
The trial involved Trinity Advocates fee earners processing over 75,000 pages of material, relating to years of investigations and re-investigations, including linked allegations of police mistakes and misconduct, detailing the original proceedings against Mr Malkinson and the numerous appeals he pursued. The forensics and evidential issues were complex and Trinity Advocates lawyers and paralegals dedicated significant resources to carefully analyse the material and report back to the legal team and Mr Quinn as the trial approached.
The case required the evidence from a number of professional witnesses presenting complex evidential concepts to the Judge and Jury at trial, remembering the events took place 20 years ago and had already been through trial and appeal process involving Mr Malkinson. Commanding the detail of such evidence required patient, informed analysis, walking the fine line of distinguishing between what can be known with any degree of certainty from a 23-year-old investigation and what might appear on the face of it as relevant but actually was just prejudicial or a “red herring”.
Mr Quinn was remanded after two and a half years of investigation to prison when the decision was finally made to charge him and Trinity Advocates fee earners made it a priority that he was given weekly updates on new material and case preparation. If his Counsel was not available to talk to Mr Quinn, then someone from his solicitors did so instead. The least his defence solicitors could do, was to make sure their client had the best and latest advice on the expert evidence and the evidence generally, as the case evolved. Video conferencing facilities inside the prison have made such effective communication easier to achieve. Mr Quinn was visited in person as well, but technology meant that a man remanded to a prison in the North West could be kept in touch with his lawyers from all over the country.
His Trinity Advocates team took numerous witness statements, investigating family heritage, instructing experienced forensic experts to analyse DNA evidence and concepts and making sure all the instructions were taken that could account for Mr Quinn’s life in Manchester around 2003.
Today marks the conclusion of a remarkable and challenging case for a relatively small criminal law firm like Trinity Advocates. This experience has re-enforced our learning to manage high profile and complex defence cases, which we also proved by our recent management of the Blundells’ school dormitory hammer Attempt Murder case from 2023.
The barrister and solicitor team representing Mr Quinn presented a complex defence case efficiently and effectively and were indebted to the Jury, who took 4 days to consider and reach their final verdicts after a difficult and long trial.
Mr Quinn will now consider the sentence imposed with his lawyers and a decision made on any appeal options.
Contact Luke Sage of our office on 01392 927111 or defence@trinityadvocates.co.uk if it will assist. Comment in relation to specific cases will always be subject to client confidentiality and privilege.
5th June 2026
This Case in the Media:
BBC Sounds ‘Shadow World – Stolen Years’ Podcast Series
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99l93md0gko