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For someone who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan projects a remarkably positive tone.

During our encounter last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he had limited information regarding because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a indefinite period in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "The Mersey Ripper" and "The Wolfman".

Adjusting to a Digital World

Prior to our discussion, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his exoneration he has had to adjust 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 divided by the Iron Curtain.

He recalled 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 understand how self-checkouts operate to realising that "instead of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Challenges

His confinement means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have evolved - similar to someone who has been in hibernation 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, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be arranged 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 using 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 institutionalisation.

He described how after his release, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.

"You've got to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

"I remained thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Seeking Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's hope is tempered by a yearning for answers about how he was charged with an infamous murder that he was innocent of, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, 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 answer off them."

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

Police Statement

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and progress in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did refer some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up 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 simple goal - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

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

His life ahead 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 cap which it is believed his resulting award will get very approach.

But the procedure is not guaranteed, and it is protracted.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only granted an temporary payment earlier this year.

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

And so he is living a basic lifestyle, with his basic aspirations - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

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