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

In our conversation last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being liberated from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the opening match since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced 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", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adjusting to a Modern World

Before our interview, he was full of stories about how since his freedom he has had to adjust to a completely different world.

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

He explained watching the demolition 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 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 imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many aspects of everyday life have transformed - similar 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 receive your money - you're thinking, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

He first became familiar with them when he was sitting 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.

Mental Consequences

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

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

"It's required 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, 'What's happening?'"

Desiring Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is balanced by a yearning 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 expression of regret.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

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

"The pain is deep because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"I cannot proceed 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.

Police Response

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a reassessment 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 assaulted him and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not directly answer the question, but as part of a comprehensive declaration it said: "The force regrets that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

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

"My only desire to do now is continue with my own life and progress as I was before, and live my time out now".

His life ahead may be made easier by government monetary award, paid to individuals affected of judicial errors.

This program is capped at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his eventual payout will get very close to.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he was innocent of was quashed in 2023, was only awarded an temporary payment earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who confess to their crimes and are released get a housing and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is existing a modest life, with his modest ambitions - although many believe he is a millionaire in waiting.

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