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Considering he who's lost approximately 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly hopeful attitude.

When I met him last month, for what was his first interview since being liberated from prison in May, he was cheerful and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he only knew about because someone approached 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 sentenced to a indefinite period in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Modern World

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

When he was arrested, 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 told me how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - from trying to figure out how self-checkouts function to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many elements of everyday life have transformed - similar to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"After spending 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 smartphone, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

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

Psychological Impact

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

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

"You must be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Demanding Answers

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a desire for answers about how he came to be charged with an high-profile murder that he didn't commit, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an apology.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"I lost all my freedom, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

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

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an response off them."

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

Law Enforcement Position

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

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up and threatened to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to achieve at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

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

His life ahead may be made easier by government financial payment, paid to victims of miscarriages of justice.

This scheme is capped at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his final compensation will get very close to.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he did not commit was dismissed in 2023, was only given an temporary payment earlier this year.

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

And so he is existing a modest life, with his humble goals - although many think he is a future wealthy man.

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