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For someone who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan maintains a remarkably optimistic attitude.

In our conversation last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and looking forward to 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 local community of Birkenhead - an event he said he only knew about because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".

When he was convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a lifetime in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "Merseyside Killer" and "Lunar Killer".

Navigating a Modern World

Prior to our discussion, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a fundamentally altered world.

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

He described watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

Mr Sullivan told me how trips to the shops now show how "everything's changed" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts operate to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Challenges

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

"After spending 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 collect your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his release and saw people operating smartphones. He only realised they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Emotional Effects

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in confinement have also led to an unavoidable sense of institutionalisation.

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell.

"You must 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 optimism is tempered by a longing for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"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 cannot proceed 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.

Authorities Statement

Merseyside Police said "there would be little benefit to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and progress in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did submit 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 beat him up and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not directly answer the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan shared about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to accomplish at some points over his approximately 38 years 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 life ahead may be made easier by government financial payment, paid to victims of judicial errors.

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

But the procedure is not automatic, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict 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 innocent man, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is living a modest life, with his modest ambitions - although many consider he is a compensation recipient.

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