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For someone who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly positive outlook.

In our conversation last month, for what was his first interview since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an event he said he had limited information regarding because someone spoke to 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 sentenced to a extended term in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "Merseyside Killer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Digital World

Before our interview, he was abundant with tales about how since his exoneration he has had to acclimate to a radically changed world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still separated 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 "the world has transformed" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been oblivious to the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - almost like someone who has been unconscious 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, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

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

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his release and saw people twiddling with 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 prison have also led to an inevitable sense of system dependency.

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

"You must be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I remained thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Desiring Closure

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is balanced by a yearning for answers about how he ended up being charged with an high-profile murder that he didn't commit, and a confusion about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"I've lost everything", he said.

"My liberty was taken, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"It pains me because I was absent for them", he said.

"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Law Enforcement Position

Merseyside Police said "minimal advantage to be gained for a re-examination 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 allegations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers physically abused him and threatened 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 clearly address 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".

Future Prospects

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 almost forty years behind bars.

"All I want to do now is get on with my own life and progress as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His prospects may be made less challenging by government compensation, paid to individuals affected of wrongful convictions.

This system is capped at £1.3m, a cap which it is estimated his final compensation will get very approach.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he had no involvement in was dismissed in 2023, was only awarded an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who admit to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is living a simple existence, with his humble goals - although many believe he is a future wealthy man.

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