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For someone who's lost approximately 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan maintains a remarkably hopeful tone.

During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion 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 was merely aware of 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 destined to a indefinite period in some of Britain's toughest category A prisons where he would be tormented by his tabloid nicknames "Birkenhead's Monster", "Merseyside Killer" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Modern World

Before our interview, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his exoneration he has had to adjust to a fundamentally altered world.

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.

He described watching the collapse 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 understand how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Digital Adjustments

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

"After spending 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 smartphone, after learning doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

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

Emotional Effects

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

He recalled how after his freedom, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and settled 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 certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Demanding Closure

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is tempered by a desire for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he didn't commit, and a perplexity 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.

"The pain is deep because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

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

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

Police Statement

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

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

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not directly answer 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".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to achieve at some points over his almost forty years behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is proceed with my own life and progress as I was before, and live my time out now".

His life ahead may be made more manageable by government monetary award, paid to individuals affected of wrongful convictions.

This system is capped at £1.3m, a cap which it is estimated his resulting award will get very approach.

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

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was quashed in 2023, was only granted an provisional award earlier this year.

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

And so he is surviving a modest life, with his modest ambitions - although many believe he is a compensation recipient.

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