Andrew Malkinson said the judicial watchdog's miscarriages of justice needed to be "totally dismantled" because it had become "infected with a culture of denial".

Following the resignation of Criminal Cases Review Board chair Helen Pitcher, Malkinson told the Guardian the organization should be disbanded.

An independent review last year found the regulator missed multiple opportunities to help Malkinson. Malkinson was jailed for 17 years for an uncommitted stranger rape in 2003. In 2023, an appeals court overturned his conviction.

Malkinson said of the CCRC leadership: "They need to all step down. Pichel is right, it's not just her, it's the entire culture. They've been infected with a culture of denial."

Despite applying for an interim payment, he has not received any state compensation. "I'm living on Universal Credit... they're not telling us anything and making us wait, which is really, really difficult," he said.

"I'm struggling with the bills. I've been leaving the heating on because I can't stand the cold and racking up big bills, which is a bit silly. I'm claiming from one department of the government, the Department for Work and Pensions, and another department owes me more than a Million pounds. What's going on?"

Pitcher resigned Tuesday afternoon after an independent panel ruled she was no longer fit to serve as president of the organization.

It is understood the Ministry of Justice is currently considering what the panel's findings mean for Pitcher's role as chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). Pitcher said she intends to stay in the role for another year until it ends and "do whatever is good for the organization."

Malkinson said: “She is trying to paint herself as a victim in this case and therefore she is unfit to play any role in our justice system.

"Really, she should not be chairing the body that regulates who can be a judge and the body charged with rooting out wrongful convictions at the same time. It's a clear conflict of interest - the one thing all wrongful convictions have in common is that they all have a judge presiding over them. Judgment.”

Charlie Falconer, the former attorney general under Tony Blair, told The Times that Pitcher's position as chairman of the judge selection body was "no longer tenable", while the former deputy public prosecutor Lord Longgarnier said confidence in Pitcher's judgment was "eroding week by week". Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick also called on Pitcher to resign from her role in the JAC.

Reviewing the CCRC's handling of Malkinson's case, Chris Henley KC was personally critical of Pitcher's failure to apologize and "taking too little responsibility" for the organization's failings. A part-time figurehead of the organization, Pitcher was not present when the most questionable early decisions in the Malkinson case were made, but it was her responsibility to hold the CEO accountable and publicly apologize.

In her resignation letter to the attorney general, Pitcher said she had been made a "scapegoat" in the Malkinson case and compared herself to Henry Staunton, who was killed by Kemi Badenock The post office chairman was fired because "someone had to take responsibility".

But Malkinson said Pitcher is more similar to Paula Vennells, the much-criticized chief executive who presided over the Post Office Horizon software scandal.

In a podcast interview released Wednesday morning, Pitcher said she considered resigning for the first time after the Malkinson case when it became clear her commissioners were not getting raises and she was not getting one. She said she felt it was a sign that she no longer had the trust of then-Attorney General Alex Chalk.

The Guardian revealed that Pitcher had been promoting her real estate business in Montenegro when her organization was in crisis over its handling of the case. She only apologized on behalf of the agency in April last year after seeing Henry's comments.

Comparing Pitcher and Vennels, Malkinson said "there are some similarities," and that they were more concerned with "their public image and salary, how is that going to affect my vacation in Montenegro?"

Pitcher said Chuck decided early on to make her a scapegoat. It is understood the former attorney general lost confidence in Pitcher because she seemed to know little about the details of Malkinson's case when they met after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction.

Pichel said in a podcast interview with Joshua Rozenberg that she was uncomfortable with the CCRC's earlier handling of the case and that the signal was weak during a video call with Chalk. Difference. She said the Henry review was necessary because "my executive team didn't think there was anything wrong, but clearly there was something and we need to understand it and learn from it".

The CCRC executive team is led by Karen Kneller, who was promoted to CEO in 2012, shortly after Malkinson's application was first rejected. Naylor served as casework director when Henry discovered the wrongful conviction agency had done a "terrible job" in Malkinson's first application to overturn his conviction.

Given Naylor's history with the organization, Malkinson said the agency needs new executive leadership and "refresh the whole thing, call it something else, completely dismantle it" so that it can fulfill its original purpose, which is Free "innocent citizens who have suffered in Britain's plight". Dungeon".

Kim Johnson, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on miscarriage of justice, said Pitcher's claims of being a scapegoat were "disingenuous and deflected from the real issue at hand - her failure to adequately address miscarriage of justice during her tenure". She said Pitcher's departure highlighted the "urgent need for reform within the CCRC".

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said it would "appoint an interim chair as soon as possible to undertake a comprehensive and thorough review of the way the organization operates". They said the department was still considering Malkinson's request for compensation.

A CCRC spokesman said: "We do not accept this explanation of events. The CCRC has let down Andrew Malkinson and we have apologized to him for this. We have commissioned an external report into our handling of his case which The report was made public last summer and we are acting on its recommendations.

“We welcome Ms. Pitcher’s clear decision to resign and look forward to working with the interim chairperson to identify, investigate and refer possible miscarriages of justice to the Court of Appeal.”