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Considering he who's lost nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably optimistic tone.

In our conversation last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic 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 brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he only knew about because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "apparently there's been a murder".

When he was convicted 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 tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Lunar Killer".

Adjusting to a Modern World

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a radically changed world.

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

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

Mr Sullivan described how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - 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 imprisonment means he has been oblivious to the way so many aspects of everyday life have evolved - comparable to someone who has been asleep 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 receive 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 'mobile program'.

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

Psychological Consequences

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

He recalled how after his release, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and settled 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 certain time, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

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

Desiring Closure

But Mr Sullivan's hope is tempered by a longing for answers about how he was charged with an notorious 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.

"Freedom disappeared, 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."

"That's all I want, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Police Position

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage 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 claims to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers beat him up and intimidated 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 directly answer the question, but as part of a comprehensive declaration it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - 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 get on with my own life and progress as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His future may be made less challenging by government monetary award, paid to victims of judicial errors.

This program is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is believed his resulting award will get very near.

But the system is not guaranteed, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only given an provisional award earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a accommodation and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is surviving a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

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