🔗 Share this article Peter Sullivan on experiencing a 'different society' The wrongly convicted man wept when the court stated it was overturning his sentence For someone who's lost approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly hopeful outlook. When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being liberated from prison in May, he was cheerful and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was taken into custody in 1986. That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder". When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a lifetime in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Lunar Killer". Navigating a Modern World Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a completely different world. When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain. He explained watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison. Mr Sullivan described how trips to the shops now show how "everything's changed" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts operate to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone". Digital Challenges His incarceration means he has been unaware of the way so many aspects 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 discovering doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'application'. He first became familiar with them when he was sitting on a bus shortly after his freedom 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 institutionalisation. Phil McCann spoke to Peter Sullivan anonymously in an interview last month He described how after his release, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and settled on his bed, because he was subconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell. "You must be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said. "I was just sitting there thinking, 'What am I doing?'" Desiring Explanation But Mr Sullivan's hope is mixed with a desire for answers about how he ended up being charged with an notorious 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 was absent for them", he said. "I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an answer off them." "My only request, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said. Peter Sullivan was found guilty of attacking Diane Sindall to death in a "frenzied attack" Authorities Response Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a reassessment of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years". The force did refer some of Mr Sullivan's claims to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers physically abused him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder. When asked if it would apologise, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case". Future Prospects Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to achieve at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars. "My only desire to do now is continue with my own life and progress as I was before, and experience freedom now". Diane Sindall, 21, was engaged to be wed when she was killed His prospects may be made easier by government monetary award, paid to victims of judicial errors. This system is capped at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his final compensation will get very approach. But the process is not automatic, and it is time-consuming. Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only granted an interim compensation payout earlier this year. Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are released get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help. And so he is existing a basic lifestyle, with his modest ambitions - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting. His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be sufficient for sacrificing 38 years of your life".