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For someone who's sacrificed nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably positive outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being released from prison in May, he was cheerful and excited about getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was taken into custody in 1986.

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone spoke 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 sentenced to a lifetime in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Digital World

Before our interview, he was full of stories about how since his release he has had to adjust to a fundamentally altered 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 collapse of the Berlin Wall from a shared television in prison.

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

Digital Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been ignorant of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, 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 'app'.

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

Emotional Effects

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

He remembered how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he returned 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 must be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Seeking Closure

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a desire for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an apology.

"Everything is gone", 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 was absent for them", he said.

"I can't carry on 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.

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "there would be little benefit to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers assaulted him and warned to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a comprehensive declaration it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan explained about his modest ambition - 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 continue 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 monetary award, paid to individuals affected of wrongful convictions.

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

But the system is not guaranteed, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he did not commit was quashed in 2023, was only awarded an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who admit to their crimes and are released get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is living a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many believe he is a compensation recipient.

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