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For someone who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably hopeful tone.

During our encounter last month, for what was his first interview since being liberated 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 sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an incident he said he had limited information regarding 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 lifetime in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Lunar Killer".

Adjusting to a Digital World

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his release he has had to adapt to a fundamentally altered 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 described watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

Mr Sullivan described how trips to the shops now show how "society has evolved" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts function to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Adjustments

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

"Following 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 collect 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 scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

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

Psychological Impact

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

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was subconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.

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

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

Seeking Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is balanced by a yearning for answers about how he ended up being charged with an infamous murder that he was innocent of, 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 couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

"My only request, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Statement

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a reassessment 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 oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up 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 specifically respond 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".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to accomplish at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is continue with my own life and carry on as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His future may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to wrongly convicted people of miscarriages of justice.

This program is limited at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his eventual payout will get very near.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only given an provisional award earlier this year.

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

And so he is surviving a basic lifestyle, with his basic aspirations - although many consider he is a compensation recipient.

His attorney, Sarah Myatt, said "no amount that you could say that would be enough for sacrificing 38 years of your life".