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For someone who's forfeited nearly 40 years of his life because of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly hopeful attitude.

In our conversation last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was cheerful and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an incident 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 convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a lifetime in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Lunar Killer".

Navigating a Digital World

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

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still separated 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 "the world has transformed" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts function to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Digital Adjustments

His incarceration means he has been oblivious to the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - almost like someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"Having endured so long in prison and finding out 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, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after learning doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

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

Emotional Impact

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

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

"You've got to be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I remained thinking, 'What am I doing?'"

Desiring Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is balanced by a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an high-profile murder that he didn't commit, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"Everything is gone", he said.

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

"It hurts because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

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

Law Enforcement Position

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage 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 forward 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 physically abused him and intimidated 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 comprehensive declaration it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

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

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

His prospects may be made less challenging by government monetary award, paid to wrongly convicted people of wrongful convictions.

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

But the process is not automatic, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only granted an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who acknowledge their crimes and are released get a accommodation and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not entitled to that help.

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

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