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For someone who's lost almost 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan projects a remarkably positive attitude.

When I met him last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat and looking forward to 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 occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone approached him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was sentenced the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced 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", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Lunar Killer".

Adapting to a Digital World

Before our interview, he was full of stories about how since his exoneration he has had to acclimate to a completely different world.

When he was arrested, 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 communal television in prison.

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

Digital Surprises

His confinement means he has been oblivious to the way so many aspects of everyday life have evolved - comparable to someone who has been unconscious since the 1980s.

"Following 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, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a digital phone, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

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

Psychological Consequences

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

He recalled 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 lock him back into his cell.

"It's required to 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 positivity is tempered by a longing for answers about how he ended up being charged with an high-profile murder that he had no part in, and a perplexity about why he still has not had an apology.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"The pain is deep because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

"The sole thing I need, an apology [and to understand] the cause behind they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Response

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police regulatory agency, 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 apologise, the force did not directly answer the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a significant injustice 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.

"All I want to do now is proceed with my own life and move forward as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His future may be made more manageable by government financial payment, paid to victims of judicial errors.

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

But the procedure is not immediate, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he was innocent of was dismissed in 2023, was only given an provisional award earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are released get a housing and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is living a simple existence, with his humble goals - although many think he is a millionaire in waiting.

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