Peter Sullivan on navigating a 'transformed world'

Considering he who's lost approximately 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably positive tone.

In our conversation last month, for what was his debriefing session since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic 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 sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he had limited information regarding 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 lifetime in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Navigating a Transformed World

Prior to our discussion, he was abundant with tales about how since his release he has had to adapt 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 separated by the Iron Curtain.

He recalled watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.

Mr Sullivan told me 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".

Technological Adjustments

His confinement means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - comparable to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"After spending 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, 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 'app'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling 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.

Emotional Consequences

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

He remembered how after his liberation, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.

"You must be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

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

Demanding Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an notorious murder that he didn't commit, 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.

"It pains me because I was absent for them", he said.

"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

"That's all I want, an apology [and to understand] the reason why they've done this to me", he said.

Authorities Position

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

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at 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 recognizes that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan told me about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had given up 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 move forward as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His prospects may be made less challenging by government financial payment, paid to wrongly convicted people of judicial errors.

This system is restricted at £1.3m, a limit which it is estimated his eventual payout will get very approach.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only given an provisional award earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who acknowledge their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is living a simple existence, with his humble goals - 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 adequate for losing 38 years of your life".