Little Hulton rape suspect’s evidence on Farnworth nights

But Paul Quinn, now 51, denies a notorious rape that prosecutors say happened on an isolated embankment between Little Hulton and Farnworth in July 2003.

The attack led the arrest and conviction of Andrew Malkinson, a security guard who prosecutors say was completely innocent of the crime, who would serve 17 years in prison.

Several weeks into a trial at Manchester Crown Court, Quinn himself was called to give evidence in the witness box before the jury.

Dressed in a black jumper, white shirt, blue jeans and grey trainers and glasses Quinn told the jury he had been born and bred in the area and had married his wife Catherine in 1996.

The trial opened at Manchester Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

He said: “It was a together community, people knew everyone.

“You could talk to people in the street.”

Asked by Lisa Wilding KC how he now viewed his behaviour when he would often be unfaithful to his wife with other women while on nights out, Quinn said he “disgraced myself.”

Pressed on how much of this had been without using protection, Quinn said this was “disgusting”.

Quinn told the court how he had been working as a fencer alongside his childhood friend Clifford Minor at the time and that the pair would often go on nights out in Farnworth.

He said this would usually involve going out to pubs in the centre of the town, where they would have around 10 pints in total, before heading to Chuffers nightclub.

He described this as a busy basement club hat would usually have music playing

Quinn said this would often involve “copping off” with women, which could mean anything from a kiss on the dancefloor to going home with them.

He said they would usually leave when the club closed at around 2am, normally by taxi, but that “on a very rare occasion” he would walk home across the motorway bridge to Little Hulton.

Paul Quinn in his police interview (Image: GMP)

Questioned further by Ms Wilding, Quinn accepted that his DNA had been found on the alleged victim but said he did not know how it could have got there.

Quinn told the court that he and his wife separated in 2016 and that he later moved to Exeter in the south west in 2017..

During lengthy questioning on his internet searches from 2019 onwards, Quinn said he had no memory and “no explanation” why he had searched an article about Andrew Malkinson.

This had been an article that had been deleted and was inaccessible on the Justice Gap website.

Asked why he had searched “wrongly convicted cases UK”, Quinn said he had always been interested in true crime.

He said: “I’ve always shown an interest in crime programmes, its something I’ve always engaged watching and reading about.”

Quinn admitted to several Google Maps searches around the Cleggs Lane area and that he had made searches about how long the police could keep DNA on a database.

Quinn, of Whipton Barton Road, Exeter, denies two counts of rape, one count of attempt to strangle, and one count of assault, intending to cause grievous bodily harm.

He denies two alternative counts of indecent assault.

The trial, before Mr Justice Robert Bright, continues.