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For someone who's lost almost 40 years of his life because of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan strikes a unusually optimistic tone.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an occurrence 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 found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a extended term in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "Merseyside Killer" and "The Wolfman".

Adjusting to a Transformed World

Ahead of our conversation, he was abundant with tales about how since his release he has had to acclimate to a radically changed world.

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

He described watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a shared 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 work to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Adjustments

His incarceration means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have transformed - almost like someone who has been unconscious 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 collect 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 booked on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became knowledgeable about them when he was sitting 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.

Psychological Consequences

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

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

"You've got 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?'"

Desiring Closure

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is mixed with a longing for answers about how he ended up being charged with an infamous murder that he had no part in, and a perplexity about why he still has not had an admission of error.

"My entire life vanished", 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 can't carry on with my life if I can't get an explanation off them."

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

Law Enforcement Statement

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "advancements 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 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 didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan shared about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to achieve at some points over his almost forty years behind bars.

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

His life ahead may be made easier by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of miscarriages of justice.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his resulting award will get very near.

But the system is not guaranteed, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only awarded an temporary payment earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are paroled get a place to live and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not entitled to that help.

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

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