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Considering he who's lost almost 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan strikes a unusually hopeful outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was cheerful and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time 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 had limited information regarding because someone approached him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced to a lifetime in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be persecuted by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Nocturnal Predator".

Adapting to a Digital World

Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his exoneration he has had to adjust to a fundamentally altered world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, the concept of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He described watching the demolition of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

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

Technological Adjustments

His incarceration means he has been unaware of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - almost like someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.

"Having endured 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 collect your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

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

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

Mental Impact

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

He described how after his liberation, 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 confine him into his cell.

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

"I remained thinking, 'What's happening?'"

Demanding Closure

But Mr Sullivan's positivity is mixed with a yearning 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 admission of error.

"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.

"It pains me because I wasn't there for them", he said.

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

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

Law Enforcement Response

Merseyside Police said "there would be little benefit to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did refer 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 physically abused him and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he failed to confess to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, 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".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his modest ambition - an ambition that he said he had lost hope of being able to realise at some points over his nearly four decades behind bars.

"The sole objective to do now is continue with my own life and move forward as I was before, and live my time out now".

His future may be made easier by government compensation, paid to victims of wrongful convictions.

This system is capped at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his eventual payout will get very approach.

But the procedure is not guaranteed, and it is protracted.

Andrew Malkinson, whose guilty verdict for a rape he did not commit was overturned in 2023, was only awarded an temporary payment earlier this year.

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

And so he is surviving a simple existence, with his modest ambitions - although many think he is a compensation recipient.

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