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For someone who's forfeited nearly 40 years of his life because of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly hopeful outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being freed 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 violent killing of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an incident he said he only knew about because someone approached him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a extended term in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "Merseyside Killer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Navigating a Transformed World

Prior to our discussion, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to adjust to a radically changed world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He explained watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

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

Technological Challenges

His incarceration means he has been ignorant of the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - 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 receive your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

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

Mental Effects

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

He described how after his liberation, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, because he was subconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell.

"It's required to be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I remained thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Desiring Answers

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a desire for answers about how he came to be charged with an infamous murder that he had no part in, 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.

"It pains me because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"It's impossible to continue with my life if I can't get an response off them."

"That's all I want, 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 review of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's claims 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 refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not specifically respond 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".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan told me about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to accomplish at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"The sole objective to do now is continue with my own life and move forward as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His future may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of miscarriages of justice.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a limit which it is thought his resulting award will get very near.

But the process is not automatic, and it is lengthy.

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he had no involvement in was dismissed in 2023, was only given an temporary payment earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who confess to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is surviving a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting.

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