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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 maintains a surprisingly positive tone.

When I met him last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he only knew about because someone spoke 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 sentenced to a indefinite period in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "Merseyside Killer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Navigating a Transformed World

Before our interview, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to adapt to a completely different world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

He described watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a shared television in prison.

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

Modern Challenges

His imprisonment means he has been ignorant of the way so many facets of everyday life have evolved - comparable to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"After spending 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 booked on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling 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 unavoidable sense of institutionalisation.

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went 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.

"It's required to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Demanding Explanation

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

"I've lost everything", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

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

"I cannot proceed 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 Response

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a reassessment of this matter today" because of "developments to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's claims 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 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 lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

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

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

His prospects may be made more manageable by government financial payment, paid to wrongly convicted people of miscarriages of justice.

This system is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is believed his resulting award will get very near.

But the procedure is not automatic, and it is time-consuming.

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

Guilty prisoners who admit to their crimes and are released get a place to live and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is existing a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

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