The exonerated man on navigating a 'different society'

For someone who's lost approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly positive tone.

In our conversation last month, for what was his debriefing session since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and eagerly anticipating 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 violent killing of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an event he said he only knew about because someone turned 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 destined to a lifetime in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Modern World

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his release he has had to adjust to a completely different world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still partitioned 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 understand how self-checkouts work to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Surprises

His incarceration means he has been oblivious to the way so many elements of everyday life have transformed - similar to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

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

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

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

Mental Effects

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

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and sat down 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 certain time, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

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

Demanding Answers

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is mixed with a longing for answers about how he was charged with an high-profile murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment 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.

"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 reason why they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Position

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

The force did refer some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up and warned 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 detailed response it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to accomplish at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"All I want to do now is continue with my own life and carry on as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His future may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to wrongly convicted people of wrongful convictions.

This program is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his resulting award will get very near.

But the process is not immediate, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only awarded an provisional award earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who admit to their crimes and are freed get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

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

His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "no sum that you could say that would be sufficient for sacrificing 38 years of your life".