The exonerated man on navigating a 'different reality'

Considering he who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan strikes a unusually hopeful outlook.

When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was upbeat and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he had limited information regarding because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was sentenced the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a extended term in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "Merseyside Killer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Digital World

Ahead of our conversation, he was abundant with tales about how since his exoneration he has had to adjust to a fundamentally altered world.

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still separated by the Iron Curtain.

He described 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 figure out how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Digital Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been ignorant of the way so many facets of everyday life have evolved - almost like someone who has been asleep 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, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

He first became familiar with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his liberation and saw people using smartphones. He only understood they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Psychological Consequences

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

He described how after his liberation, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.

"It's required to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I was just sitting there thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Seeking Closure

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is tempered by a longing for answers about how he was charged with an high-profile murder that he was innocent of, 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.

"It pains me 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."

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

Law Enforcement Statement

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a re-examination 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 oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers assaulted him and intimidated 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 directly answer the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force regrets that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to realise at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"All I want to do now is get on with my own life and carry on as I was before, and live my time out now".

His life ahead may be made less challenging by government financial payment, paid to individuals affected of judicial errors.

This system is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is believed his final compensation will get very approach.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he did not commit was quashed in 2023, was only granted an temporary payment earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who confess to their crimes and are freed get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is living a modest life, with his modest ambitions - 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 sacrificing 38 years of your life".