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

When I met him last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being liberated 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 violent killing of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an event he said he was merely aware of because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".

When he was sentenced the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a indefinite period in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "The Mersey Ripper" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Modern World

Prior to our discussion, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his release he has had to adapt to a fundamentally altered 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 explained watching the fall 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 figure out how self-checkouts function to realising that "in place 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 elements of everyday life have changed - comparable to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"Having endured 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 receive your money - you're thinking, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a digital phone, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

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

Psychological Effects

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

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 automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and secure him into his cell.

"It's required to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

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

Seeking Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is mixed with a yearning for answers about how he ended up being charged with an high-profile murder that he didn't commit, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an apology.

"I've lost everything", he said.

"My liberty was taken, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"The pain is deep because I was absent for them", he said.

"It's impossible to continue with my life if I can't get an response off them."

"The sole thing I need, an apology [and to understand] the reason why they've done this to me", he said.

Police Response

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did refer some of Mr Sullivan's claims to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers physically abused him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess 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 detailed response it said: "The force regrets that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

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

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

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

This system is capped at £1.3m, a limit which it is believed his resulting award will get very close to.

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

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

Admitted offenders who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a place to live and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is surviving a simple existence, with his humble goals - although many consider he is a future wealthy man.

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