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Considering he who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan projects a unusually positive tone.

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

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he was merely aware of because someone turned to 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 destined to a indefinite period in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "River Mersey Murderer" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Modern World

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

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

He recalled watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a public 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 operate to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Surprises

His incarceration means he has been ignorant of the way so many aspects of everyday life have transformed - almost like someone who has been unconscious 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 collect your money - you're thinking, 'Wow, what's going on here?'"

He now has a mobile device, after learning doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

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

Mental Consequences

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

He described how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and positioned himself 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 discipline you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Desiring Answers

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is tempered by a desire for answers about how he was charged with an infamous murder that he didn't commit, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an admission of error.

"I've lost everything", he said.

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

"It pains me because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

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

Authorities Response

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

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's claims to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers beat him up and threatened to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a detailed response it said: "The force regrets that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan shared about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to realise at some points over his almost forty 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 prospects may be made easier by government compensation, paid to victims of miscarriages of justice.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a cap which it is thought his final compensation will get very approach.

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

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

Convicted criminals who admit to their crimes and are paroled get a accommodation and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not eligible for that help.

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

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be adequate for sacrificing 38 years of your life".