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For someone who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan projects a unusually positive outlook.

In our conversation last month, for what was his first interview since being freed from prison in May, he was cheerful and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was taken into custody in 1986.

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

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a lifetime in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "The Mersey Ripper" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Digital World

Before our interview, he was full of stories about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a radically changed world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still partitioned 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 "society has evolved" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts function to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been oblivious to the way so many aspects of everyday life have transformed - similar to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"Following 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 discovering doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became familiar with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his freedom and saw people twiddling with smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Emotional Consequences

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

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went back 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 discipline you", he said.

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

Seeking Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's hope is tempered by a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an high-profile murder that he was innocent of, and a perplexity 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.

"It pains me because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a review 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 regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers beat him up and threatened to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit 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 regrets that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

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

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

His future may be made more manageable by government monetary award, paid to victims of judicial errors.

This system is restricted at £1.3m, a cap which it is thought his resulting award will get very close to.

But the system is not guaranteed, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only given an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who confess to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is surviving a simple existence, with his basic aspirations - although many think he is a future wealthy man.

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