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Considering he who's lost approximately 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably hopeful tone.

When I met him last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an event he said he had limited information regarding because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "apparently there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a indefinite period in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Transformed World

Ahead of our conversation, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a fundamentally altered world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

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

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "everything's changed" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts operate to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Challenges

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

"Having endured 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a digital phone, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was sitting on a bus shortly after his release and saw people operating smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Psychological Consequences

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in confinement have also led to an inevitable sense of system dependency.

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and settled on his bed, because he was unconsciously 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 found myself thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Demanding Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is balanced by a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an notorious murder that he didn't commit, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an apology.

"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.

"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 explanation off them."

"My only request, 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 reassessment of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police regulatory agency, 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 failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force regrets that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to realise 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 live my time out now".

His prospects may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of judicial errors.

This program is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his resulting award will get very approach.

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

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

Guilty prisoners who confess to their crimes and are released get a housing and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is living a simple existence, with his modest ambitions - although many consider he is a compensation recipient.

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "no sum that you could say that would be sufficient for forfeiting 38 years of your life".