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For someone who's sacrificed nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly hopeful tone.

In our conversation last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat 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 sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he was merely aware of because someone approached 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 sentenced to a lifetime in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "Merseyside Killer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Navigating a Modern World

Ahead of our conversation, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to adapt to a completely different world.

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

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

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "society has evolved" - 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".

Modern Adjustments

His imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - comparable to someone who has been unconscious 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 finding out doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

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

Mental Consequences

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

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

"You've got to be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Seeking Closure

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a yearning for answers about how he was charged with an infamous murder that he didn't commit, and a confusion about why he still has not had an apology.

"I've lost everything", 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 couldn't be present 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 cause behind they've done this to me", he said.

Police Response

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers assaulted him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan shared about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to realise at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

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

His future may be made less challenging by government financial payment, paid to individuals affected of miscarriages of justice.

This scheme is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is estimated his final compensation will get very close to.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he was innocent of was quashed in 2023, was only awarded an provisional award earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a housing and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is surviving a basic lifestyle, with his humble goals - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting.

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