🔗 Share this article

For someone who's forfeited almost 40 years of his life because of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan projects a remarkably positive tone.

When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being liberated from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the opening match 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 turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "apparently 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 most secure category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "Merseyside Killer" and "Lunar Killer".

Navigating a Transformed World

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

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

He explained watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts work to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Adjustments

His incarceration means he has been unaware of the way so many elements of everyday life have transformed - comparable to someone who has been unconscious 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 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 freedom and saw people operating smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Psychological Impact

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

He remembered how after his release, one morning in his flat he went 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.

"You've got to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I remained thinking, 'What am I doing?'"

Seeking Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's hope is balanced by a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an high-profile murder that he had no part in, and a perplexity 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 hurts because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Authorities Response

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

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers assaulted him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not clearly address 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 simple goal - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is proceed with my own life and progress as I was before, and live my time out now".

His prospects may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of judicial errors.

This program is capped at £1.3m, a cap which it is estimated his resulting award will get very close to.

But the system is not guaranteed, and it is protracted.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he was innocent of was dismissed in 2023, was only granted an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who confess to their crimes and are freed get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is existing a simple existence, with his basic aspirations - although many think he is a compensation recipient.

His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "no amount that you could say that would be adequate for losing 38 years of your life".