🔗 Share this article

Considering he who's forfeited nearly 40 years of his life because of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan strikes a unusually optimistic outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being liberated from prison in May, he was cheerful and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an event he said he had limited information regarding because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".

When he was convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced to a extended term in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Lunar Killer".

Adapting to a Transformed World

Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his release he has had to adjust to a radically changed world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He recalled watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "everything's changed" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts function to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Surprises

His confinement means he has been ignorant of the way so many elements of everyday life have changed - almost like someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"Having endured so long in prison and finding out there's no DHSS [Department of Health and Social Security, now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)] where you can collect your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was riding on a bus shortly after his release and saw people using smartphones. He only understood they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Emotional Effects

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in prison have also led to an unavoidable sense of prison conditioning.

He remembered how after his release, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was unconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell.

"It's required to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Seeking Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is tempered by a longing for answers about how he ended up being charged with an infamous murder that he had no part in, and a confusion about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"I've lost everything", he said.

"My liberty was taken, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"It pains me because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an explanation off them."

"That's all I want, an apology [and to understand] the reason why they've done this to me", he said.

Authorities Statement

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and progress in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up and threatened to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a comprehensive declaration it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan shared about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"All I want to do now is proceed with my own life and carry on as I was before, and live my time out now".

His prospects may be made easier by government financial payment, paid to victims of judicial errors.

This system is restricted at £1.3m, a limit which it is estimated his final compensation will get very near.

But the process is not immediate, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was dismissed in 2023, was only granted an provisional award earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is surviving a basic lifestyle, with his modest ambitions - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be sufficient for forfeiting 38 years of your life".