🔗 Share this article Peter Sullivan on living in a 'different world' The wrongly convicted man wept when the court stated it was overturning his conviction For someone who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly positive attitude. When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the opening match since he was arrested in 1986. That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he was merely aware of because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly 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 most secure category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Lunar Killer". Adapting to a Modern World Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his exoneration he has had to acclimate to a fundamentally altered world. When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain. He described watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a communal 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 operate to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone". Digital Adjustments His imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - comparable to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s. "Following 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 receive your money - you're thinking, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'" He now has a mobile device, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'application'. He first became knowledgeable about them when he was traveling 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 Impact Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in confinement have also led to an unavoidable sense of prison conditioning. The journalist spoke to Peter Sullivan anonymously in an interview last month He described how after his release, 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 secure him into his cell. "It's required to be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said. "I remained thinking, 'Why am I here?'" Desiring Closure But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a longing for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he was innocent of, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an admission of error. "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 wasn't there for them", he said. "I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an response off them." "That's all I want, 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 "violent assault" Police Statement Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "developments to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years". The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's claims 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 failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder. When asked if it would express regret, the force did not directly answer 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 lost hope of being able to realise at some points over his almost forty years behind bars. "All I want to do now is continue with my own life and progress as I was before, and live my time out now". Diane Sindall, 21, was engaged to be wed when she was killed His future may be made easier by government financial payment, paid to victims of wrongful convictions. This scheme is limited at £1.3m, a limit which it is thought his eventual payout will get very close to. But the procedure is not automatic, and it is protracted. Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only awarded an interim compensation payout earlier this year. Convicted criminals who confess to their crimes and are freed get a accommodation and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not eligible for that help. And so he is surviving a basic lifestyle, with his basic aspirations - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting. His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "no amount that you could say that would be adequate for sacrificing 38 years of your life".