An innocent man convicted of rape in one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice says he is 'insulted' by the 'softer' sentence handed to the real culprit - and which could see him serve less time than he was forced to endure. Andrew Malkinson said he was left to 'rot' behind bars for 17 years by real culprit Paul Quinn, 52, who strangled a young mother unconscious before assaulting her on a motorway embankment in 2003.Quinn, who was linked by DNA to the brutal rape decades later, has finally seen justice catch up with him after being jailed for 21 years at Manchester Crown Court, on Friday.He will be eligible to apply for parole after serving just 14 years.Mr Malkinson said: 'I am insulted that this violent, depraved individual who was content to let me suffer two decades of vilification and more than 17 years wrongly imprisoned for his crime – has received a softer sentence than was imposed on me, an innocent man.'I got sentenced to life imprisonment and served more than 17 years inside. Throughout that time I didn't know if I would ever be released.'Paul Quinn, who has a track record of violence and sexual offences, and who let me rot whilst he enjoyed his freedom, could now be out after just 14 years, and will certainly be out after 21 years.'I hope this man does not get parole and that he serves longer than me. Anything less is not justice. 'I am also appalled for the victim, who has suffered so gravely and whose real attacker has today gotten off lightly. 'My thoughts are with her and her loved ones – who I hope today nevertheless brings some peace.' Andrew Malkinson says he is 'insulted' by the 'softer' sentence handed to Paul Quinn - who will serve 14 years before being eligible for parole. Malkinson was locked up for 17 years Malkinson accused Quinn (pictured during his police interviews) of leaving him to 'rot' in jailQuinn, a hard-drinking, divorced father-of-six, who claims to have had consensual sex with hundreds of women as a young man, was found guilty of rape, strangulation and grievous bodily harm at a trial in April.The fence erector was given an extended licence of three years on top of the 21-year custodial sentence, which means he could be recalled to prison if he breaks the terms of his release.Quinn made no reaction as he was finally sentenced 23 years after the sex attack for which Mr Malkinson was wrongly convicted.Mr Justice Robert Bright told the defendant: 'You sat back and enjoyed your liberty at the expense of an innocent man.'It's true you never did anything to implicate Mr Malkinson, however, but for you he would never have even been questioned.'He also said the victim was a 'hero', and that it must have been 'excruciating' for her to go through the courts twice. The judge noted that Quinn had viewed an online news article from 2004 about the original trial, which demonstrated he was aware of the harm he had caused the woman and Mr Malkinson.'Neither of these things appears to have troubled you at any point during the 20-plus years that have passed,' he said.'It is utterly clear that you knew another man had been arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned. You knew that his conviction was wrongful.'The victim, who was in her 30s at the time of the attack and has been left permanently disfigured, described how she 'lives in constant fear that someone is behind me'.The rape took place in the early hours of Saturday, July 19, 2003, as she walked home through Salford, Greater Manchester.She heard 'footsteps', she told the jury in the original trial, then to her terror 'felt this force from behind'.Tearfully, she told how she desperately tried to fight off her attacker as he strangled her. From left: A custody image of Andrew Malkinson after his arrest in 2003, an e-fit image created of the attacker based on the victim's description, and an image of Paul Quinn taken in 2005 In 2023, new analysis of DNA taken from the victim's clothing provided a one-in-a-billion match to a sample given by Quinn over a decade earlierBefore losing consciousness, she scratched his face with such force that it caused one of her nails to snap off.She suffered a fractured cheekbone, a swollen eye, and one of her nipples was partially severed by a bite.In a victim impact statement read before the court today, she said: 'After 20 years, I now have justice but that does not change the fact that two lives have been impacted in such a way.'As for me, the impact of what happened that day has stayed with me and will remain with me for life.'Every day, I look at my face and see the disfigurement, the scarring. It is a permanent reminder of that night and what I experienced. I have to live with that.'For him it was one night of his life, for me it was one night that changed my life.'Mr Malkinson, working as a security guard at a local shopping centre, protested his innocence but was wrongly picked out at an identity parade and jailed.He was a treated as a 'handy patsy' for police who just wanted a 'quick conviction' he has said.In 2023, new analysis of DNA taken from the victim's clothing provided a one-in-a-billion match to a sample given by Quinn over a decade earlier.However the trial has left police and prosecutors facing questions as to why doubts over Mr Malkinson's conviction were not acted on sooner. Rapist Paul Quinn spent 23 years enjoying his freedom, becoming a grandfather, splitting from his wife, moving to Devon and starting a new relationshipOver the years of his incarceration, Mr Malkinson, from Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, made multiple failed appeals.Now aged 60, he was released in 2020 after 17 years in jail, with his conviction finally quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2023.After Quinn was found guilty, it was revealed he previously committed an indecent assault when he was just 12 years old.Four years later, when he was 16, Quinn was convicted of two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl.Then at the age of 19 he was convicted of arson after setting fire to a wheelie bin outside the home of an ex-girlfriend while her two children were inside, receiving a two-year sentence.His other convictions from the 1990s include causing actual bodily harm, burglary and trespassing with a loaded air gun.Jurors were not told that the reason Quinn's DNA came to be sampled in 2012 was as part of a national police operation targeting convicted sex offenders.A series of blunders meant it was not matched to samples taken from the rape victim for another decade.And while Mr Malkinson endured a nightmarish incarceration, Quinn became a grandfather, split from his wife, moved to Devon and started a new relationship.Mr Malkinson's solicitor Toby Wilton, of Hickman and Rose, said today's sentencing 'is not the end of this matter'.He is now fighting for an overhaul of the Government scheme that compensates victims of miscarriages of justice.'Currently, the costs incurred in trying to achieve a fair and suitable compensation are deducted from the final amount some victims receive,' Mr Wilton explained.'This effectively means that victims are expected to pay for the privilege of securing justice.'An independent judge-led inquiry will now examine why it has taken so long to unmask the real attacker.Detectives suspect Quinn - a 'very dangerous man' who was 'probably hanging around waiting to see a lone female' - may also be responsible for other unsolved sex offences that took place during his years living in Salford. They have today asked anyone who has any information, or believes they may have been a victim, to come forward.