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For someone who's lost nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan maintains a surprisingly hopeful attitude.

During our encounter last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the violent killing of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an incident 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 sentenced the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a lifetime in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Lunar Killer".

Adjusting to a Modern World

Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a radically changed world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still separated by the Iron Curtain.

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

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

Technological Surprises

His imprisonment means he has been ignorant of the way so many elements of everyday life have evolved - similar to someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"After spending so long in prison and finding out 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 digital phone, after finding out doctor's appointments need to be scheduled on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

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

Emotional Impact

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in confinement have also led to an inevitable sense of system dependency.

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went 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.

"It's required to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

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

Demanding Answers

But Mr Sullivan's hope is mixed with a longing for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"Everything is gone", he said.

"I lost all my freedom, 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.

"I cannot proceed 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 Response

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

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers assaulted him and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty 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 comprehensive declaration it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan told me about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to accomplish at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"The sole objective to do now is continue with my own life and progress as I was before, and experience freedom now".

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

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

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only given an interim compensation payout earlier this year.

Guilty prisoners who confess to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an innocent man, is not entitled to that help.

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

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