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

In our conversation last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was cheerful 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 home town of Birkenhead - an event he said he only knew about because someone approached 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 condemned to a lifetime in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Transformed World

Ahead of our conversation, he was full of stories about how since his release he has had to acclimate to a radically changed 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 explained watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a shared television in prison.

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

Technological Challenges

His confinement means he has been ignorant of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - comparable to someone who has been unconscious 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after learning doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

He first became knowledgeable about them when he was riding on a bus shortly after his liberation and saw people using 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 custody have also led to an predictable sense of institutionalisation.

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and settled 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 certain time, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'What am I doing?'"

Seeking Closure

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a yearning for answers about how he came to be charged with an high-profile murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an admission of error.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, 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 response off them."

"The sole thing I need, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for 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 "advancements 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 watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers physically abused him and intimidated 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 clearly address the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to realise at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is get on with my own life and move forward as I was before, and live my time out now".

His prospects may be made easier by government compensation, paid to victims of miscarriages of justice.

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 time-consuming.

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

Guilty prisoners who admit to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is existing a modest life, with his humble goals - although many think he is a millionaire in waiting.

His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be enough for losing 38 years of your life".