The exonerated man on experiencing a 'different reality'

Considering he who's lost nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably optimistic attitude.

In our conversation last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was convicted 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 persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Digital World

Before our interview, he was full of stories about how since his exoneration he has had to adapt to a radically changed world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

He described 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 "the world has transformed" - 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".

Digital Challenges

His confinement means he has been ignorant of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - similar to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"Following 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 receive your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his liberation and saw people operating smartphones. He only realised 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 unavoidable sense of system dependency.

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

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

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

Seeking Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is mixed with a longing for answers about how he was charged with an infamous murder that he was innocent of, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an admission of error.

"Everything is gone", he said.

"I lost all my freedom, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"It hurts because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Police 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 forward some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers physically abused him and warned to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

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

"All I want to do now is get on with my own life and move forward as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His life ahead may be made easier by government compensation, paid to wrongly convicted people of wrongful convictions.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a limit which it is estimated his final compensation will get very near.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was dismissed in 2023, was only granted an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who acknowledge their crimes and are paroled get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is existing a basic lifestyle, with his modest ambitions - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

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