🔗 Share this article

For someone who's lost almost 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan projects a unusually positive outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his debriefing session since being liberated from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an event he said he only knew about because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "apparently there's been a murder".

When he was convicted 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

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his freedom 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 recalled watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a shared television in prison.

Mr Sullivan told me 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".

Technological Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been ignorant of the way so many elements of everyday life have transformed - similar to someone who has been unconscious 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, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after learning doctor's appointments need to be booked 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 release and saw people using smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Mental Impact

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

He described how after his release, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and positioned himself 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 yell at you", he said.

"I was just sitting there thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Desiring Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a desire 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 apology.

"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.

"The pain is deep because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

"My only request, an apology [and to understand] the cause behind they've done this to me", he said.

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate 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 apologise, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan told me about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his almost forty years behind bars.

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

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

This program is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is thought his resulting award will get very approach.

But the system is not automatic, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he had no involvement in was overturned in 2023, was only granted an temporary payment earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who admit to their crimes and are freed get a accommodation and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is existing a simple existence, with his humble goals - although many consider he is a compensation recipient.

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