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For someone who's sacrificed nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly hopeful outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his debriefing session since being liberated from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the opening match since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an incident he said he had limited information regarding because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly 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 highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Modern World

Ahead of our conversation, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his freedom he has had to adapt to a fundamentally altered 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 collapse 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 work out how self-checkouts operate to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Surprises

His confinement means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - similar to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"Following so long in prison and discovering 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 smartphone, after discovering 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 traveling on a bus shortly after his release and saw people twiddling with 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 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 secure him into his cell.

"It's required to be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Desiring Closure

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a longing 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 apology.

"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 was absent for them", he said.

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a reassessment of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers assaulted him 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 comprehensive declaration it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan explained about his basic aspiration - 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 proceed with my own life and carry on as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His life ahead may be made more manageable by government monetary award, paid to wrongly convicted people of miscarriages of justice.

This system is restricted at £1.3m, a limit which it is believed his final compensation will get very close to.

But the system is not immediate, and it is time-consuming.

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

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a place to live and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

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

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