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

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

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an event he said he had limited information regarding because someone approached him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly 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 toughest category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Transformed World

Prior to our discussion, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his exoneration he has had to adapt to a completely different world.

When he was taken into custody, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still separated by the Iron Curtain.

He explained watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.

Mr Sullivan described 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 Adjustments

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

"After spending 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 pick up your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'app'.

He first became familiar with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his freedom and saw people twiddling with smartphones. He only understood 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 system dependency.

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

"You've got to be at your door at a specific hour, otherwise the officers will discipline you", he said.

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

Desiring Answers

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 bewilderment 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.

"The pain is deep because I was absent for them", he said.

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

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

The force did forward some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up and intimidated 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 recognizes that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Looking Ahead

Mr Sullivan explained about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to accomplish at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"The sole objective to do now is get on with my own life and carry on as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His life ahead may be made more manageable by government financial payment, paid to individuals affected of judicial errors.

This system is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his resulting award will get very near.

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

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

Admitted offenders who acknowledge their crimes and are paroled get a place to live and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is living a basic lifestyle, with his modest ambitions - although many believe he is a millionaire in waiting.

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