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For someone who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly optimistic 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 first time 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 had limited information regarding because someone approached him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a extended term in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "Merseyside Killer" and "The Wolfman".

Adjusting to a Modern World

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his freedom he has had to adjust to a fundamentally altered world.

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

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

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

Digital Surprises

His incarceration means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have transformed - almost like someone who has been unconscious 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

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

Mental Consequences

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

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was subconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and secure him into his cell.

"You've got to be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I was just sitting there thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Desiring Explanation

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

"Everything is gone", he said.

"My liberty was taken, 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 response off them."

"My only request, an apology [and to understand] the cause behind they've done this to me", he said.

Police Statement

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

The force did refer 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 significant injustice of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

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

"My only desire to do now is get on with my own life and move forward as I was before, and live my time out now".

His future may be made less challenging by government compensation, paid to victims of wrongful convictions.

This scheme is limited at £1.3m, a limit which it is believed his eventual payout will get very near.

But the procedure is not automatic, and it is protracted.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he was innocent of was overturned in 2023, was only awarded an temporary payment earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who admit to their crimes and are freed get a place to live and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is existing a basic lifestyle, with his humble goals - although many think he is a compensation recipient.

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