A new forensic investigation is under way into a rape case that led to a man spending 17 years in prison after DNA linked another unknown male to the crime.

Andrew Malkinson was convicted of raping a 33-year-old woman by a motorway in Greater Manchester in 2003.

There was never any DNA evidence against him and he always insisted he was innocent, spending a decade longer in prison as a result.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, has now commissioned its own forensic inquiries into the case. It comes after Malkinson’s legal team discovered evidence that there was another man’s DNA on key samples taken from the victim.

The victim said she remembered causing a “deep scratch” to her attacker’s right cheek but Malkinson was seen at work with no scratches on his face the next day. Testing using new forensic techniques in 2020 showed traces of male DNA on fingernail scrapings, as well as on fragments of her clothing. This did not match her then boyfriend or Malkinson.

The CCRC decides if cases can be referred back to the court of appeal and has twice previously turned down Malkinson’s attempts to overturn his conviction, in 2012 and 2020. A new application was made in May last year and the CCRC has yet to decide on it.

Since learning that the CCRC would be conducting its own forensic investigation, Malkinson’s lawyers have sent it a dossier of 34 suspects put forward during the police’s original investigation. These include 21 men with violent records and eight accused or convicted sex offenders. Most were not traced or spoken to by police.

Appeal, a charity and law practice that is representing Malkinson, believes police got “tunnel vision” in the case.

Malkinson, who had no previous convictions for violence, said: “I could never do anything like that. They just seemed to fit the evidence around me.”

Despite nearly two decades of waiting, he has not given up on clearing his name. “I’ve never lost hope,” he said. “I’m telling the truth and that’s what gave me hope all through those years.”

His solicitors say Malkinson did not match key parts of the victim’s original description of the attacker. He was three inches taller, had chest hair, when her attacker’s chest was described as hairless and shiny, and also had prominent tattoos on his forearms when no tattoos were mentioned.

They say Malkinson was from Grimsby and had only recently arrived in Manchester after…