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For someone who's lost almost 40 years of his life due to a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan projects a remarkably optimistic tone.

When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being released from prison in May, he was enthusiastic 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 violent killing 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, "reportedly 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 highest-security category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adjusting to a Transformed World

Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories 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, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He recalled watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.

Mr Sullivan told me how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts work to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Digital Adjustments

His confinement means he has been unaware of the way so many facets of everyday life have evolved - comparable to 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 collect your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

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

He first became familiar 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.

Psychological Effects

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

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

"You must be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Desiring Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's hope is balanced by a longing for answers about how he ended up being charged with an notorious murder that he didn't commit, and a perplexity about why he still has not had an admission of error.

"I've lost everything", he said.

"I lost all my freedom, 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.

"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 reason why they've done this to me", he said.

Authorities Position

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "developments 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 physically abused him and threatened to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"All I want to do now is proceed with my own life and progress as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His life ahead may be made easier by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of wrongful convictions.

This scheme is capped at £1.3m, a cap which it is thought his final compensation will get very close to.

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

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

Convicted criminals who confess to their crimes and are freed get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is existing a basic lifestyle, with his humble goals - 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 sacrificing 38 years of your life".