Andrew Malkinson awarded statutory compensation in miscarriage of justice claim
12 Feb 2025
Hickman & Rose client Andrew Malkinson has succeeded in his statutory claim to be compensated for more than 17 years spent in prison for a crime he did not commit.
A year and a half after Mr Malkinson’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal, the Ministry of Justice has agreed to make a “substantial” initial down payment under its statutory compensation scheme.
Toby Wilton told the Guardian and other news organisations that while this payment is “long-awaited good news”, it is “not right that this statutory compensation scheme can only pay out a maximum of £1m to victims of serious miscarriages of justice”.
Toby, who represents Mr Malkinson in his claims for compensation, said the £1m cap – which includes all the costs of claiming compensation – was set nearly 20 years ago, in 2008.
“£1m then would be worth around £2m today,” Toby said. “Th[is] arbitrary and unfair compensation cap should, at the very least, increase with inflation in just the same way that other compensation in the English legal system, and that – say – MPs’ salaries increase over time.”
Appearing on the BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme, Toby said the statutory compensation scheme’s structure means one result of the payout could be that Mr Malkinson now loses his social housing.
“Unlike other compensation payments – for example, payments made to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire – payments under the miscarriage justice scheme are not exempted when it comes to assessment for state support”, Toby said.
“Which means that just by virtue of having received this very happy news […] Andy now faces [the] prospect of losing the social housing that he waited a very long time to be given.”
Read more here, here and here. Listen to the full Today programme interview at 1:22 here.
