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Considering he who's lost approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan projects a surprisingly hopeful outlook.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat and looking forward to 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 birthplace of Birkenhead - an incident he said he only knew about because someone spoke to 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 condemned to a extended term in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "Merseyside Killer" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Transformed World

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

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

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

Mr Sullivan told me how trips to the shops now show how "everything's changed" - from trying to figure out how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Challenges

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

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

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

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

Emotional Impact

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

He remembered how after his release, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and secure him into his cell.

"You must be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Demanding Answers

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.

"Everything is gone", he said.

"My liberty was taken, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

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

"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

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

Authorities Response

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

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers assaulted him and warned to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would apologise, the force did not clearly address the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force regrets that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan shared 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 prospects may be made easier by government monetary award, 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 automatic, and it is lengthy.

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

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are released get a place to live and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is existing a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many think he is a millionaire in waiting.

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