🔗 Share this article

Considering he who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly positive attitude.

In our conversation last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was cheerful and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he had limited information regarding because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was sentenced the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced to a indefinite period in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Digital World

Ahead of our conversation, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to adjust to a completely different world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

He explained watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a shared television in prison.

Mr Sullivan described how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - 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 imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many facets of everyday life have evolved - similar to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"After spending so long in prison and learning 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, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after learning doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became knowledgeable about them when he was sitting on a bus shortly after his liberation and saw people operating smartphones. He only realised they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Mental Consequences

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

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and settled on his bed, because he was unconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.

"You must be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I was just sitting there thinking, 'What am I doing?'"

Demanding Answers

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a desire for answers about how he came to be charged with an infamous murder that he didn't commit, and a confusion about why he still has not had an apology.

"I've lost everything", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, 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.

"It's impossible to continue with my life if I can't get an explanation off them."

"The sole thing I need, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "there would be little benefit to be gained for a reassessment of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers assaulted him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force regrets that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to realise at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is get on with my own life and move forward as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His prospects may be made easier by government monetary award, paid to wrongly convicted people of wrongful convictions.

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

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

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

Convicted criminals who acknowledge their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is living a modest life, with his humble goals - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting.

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