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Considering he who's sacrificed almost 40 years of his life as a result of a crime he was innocent of, Peter Sullivan projects a unusually positive attitude.

When I met him last month, for what was his first interview since being freed from prison in May, he was upbeat and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his birthplace of Birkenhead - an event he said he had limited information regarding because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "apparently there's been a murder".

When he was convicted 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 Beast of Birkenhead", "The Mersey Ripper" and "Lunar Killer".

Adjusting to a Digital World

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

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

He described 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 understand how self-checkouts function to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Modern Adjustments

His incarceration means he has been unaware of the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - comparable to 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, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

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

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

Psychological Effects

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

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

"It's required to be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

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

Desiring Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is mixed with a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an notorious murder that he had no part in, and a bewilderment about why he still has not had an apology.

"My entire life vanished", 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 was absent for them", he said.

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

"The sole thing I need, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Position

Merseyside Police said "limited value 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 oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers physically abused him and warned to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not directly answer 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".

Future Prospects

Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to achieve at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"My only desire to do now is get on with my own life and progress as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His future may be made more manageable by government compensation, paid to wrongly convicted people of wrongful convictions.

This program is limited at £1.3m, a cap which it is believed his eventual payout will get very approach.

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

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

Guilty prisoners who acknowledge their crimes and are freed get a accommodation and some assistance for living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not entitled to that help.

And so he is surviving a simple existence, with his basic aspirations - although many consider he is a millionaire in waiting.

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "no amount that you could say that would be sufficient for losing 38 years of your life".