Andy Malkinson speaks to the press outside the court.
A man locked up for 17 years for a rape he did not commit was finally declared a free man after his conviction was overturned by appeals court judges on Wednesday.
Following the discovery of new DNA evidence connecting another potential suspect to the crime, British national Andrew Malkinson's conviction was quashed.
According to BBC, Malkinson was jailed in 2004 for the attack on a woman in Salford, serving a jail term for a crime he always said he did not commit. His case was referred to the Court of Appeal in January after new evidence pointed to another potential suspect.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Malkinson said the past two decades felt like he had been "kidnapped by the state".
"I was innocent, and finally they listened. But I have been innocent all along, for each of those 20 years that came before today," 57-year-old Mr Malkinson said.
"It has taken nearly 20 years to persuade my kidnappers to let me go."
Lord Justice Holroyd overturned Mr. Malkinson's conviction, stating that he could "leave the court free and no longer be subject to the conditions of licence.".
Additionally, police expressed regret for what they called a "grave miscarriage of justice".
Speaking outside the court, Mr Malkinson said: "When a jury finds you guilty when you are innocent, reality does not change. You know you did not commit the crime, but all the people around you start living in a false fantasy universe and treat you as if you are guilty."
Now that I have finally been exonerated, I am left outside this court without an apology, without an explanation, jobless, homeless, and expected to simply slip back into the world with no acknowledgement of the gaping black hole they opened up in my life."
"A black hole that looms so large behind me that I fear it will swallow me up."