A man wrongly jailed for 38 years has spoken of being beaten by police and bullied into making a false murder confession.
Peter Sullivan, 68, the subject of one of the longest miscarriages of justice in British history, said he had lost everything and wanted an apology from Merseyside police.
Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of Diane Sindall, 21, a florist and part-time pub worker who was killed as she left work in Bebington, Merseyside.
He had his conviction quashed by the court of appeal in May after new DNA tests were carried out.
Six months after his release from jail, Sullivan, in an interview with BBC North West, claimed he had been beaten on two occasions by police officers in his cell.
“They threw a blanket over the top of me and they were hitting me on top of the blanket with the truncheons to try and get me to cooperate with them,” he said. “It really hurt, they were leathering me.”
Sullivan said he had been denied food, sleep and the attendance of an appropriate adult, despite police custody records noting he had learning difficulties.
He claimed he had been told that if he did not confess he would be charged with “35 other rapes”.
Sullivan said he was not able to forgive those responsible for his imprisonment. “I can’t forgive them for what they’ve done to me because it’s going to be there with me for the rest of my life,” he said.
“All I want is an apology with the reason why they done this to me … from Merseyside police and everyone else. I lost all my freedom, I lost my mother, since I was put in prison, I’ve lost my father, and it hurts because I wasn’t there for them.”
It had been alleged that Sullivan had spent the day drinking heavily after losing a darts match and went out armed with a crowbar before a chance encounter with Sindall.
The shocking murder prompted tabloid headlines about Sullivan being the “beast of Birkenhead” and “the Wolfman” because of bite marks left on the body.
Sullivan said: “The names, they’ll always stick with me because I’ve never been anything like that.”
Police reopened the murder investigation in 2023 and said the search for the killer was still in progress. To date, 456 men had been screened and eliminated from the investigation, police said.
People still lay flowers at a granite memorial stone close to where Sindall was murdered. The memorial reads: “Murdered 2.8.1986 because she was a woman. In memory of all our sisters who have been raped and murdered. We will never let it be forgotten.”
Sullivan said he felt sorry for Sindall’s family “and what they’re going through at the moment, where they’re back at square one and not knowing who the person is that killed their daughter.
“I don’t know what to say to them. I am really sorry for what’s happened to their daughter and if they need – if they want – my support when they go to court with the guy, when they find him, I will go to court with them. I will be there by their side 100%, because I will be there for them.”
Sullivan, whose identity was hidden in the interview, has yet to receive any compensation.
Responding to the interview, Merseyside police said it “regrets that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in this case”.
On Sullivan’s claim of being beaten and told he would be charged with 35 rapes, the force said: “This is the first time, that we are aware, that this allegation has come to light and materials from the time that we have access to do not provide any such details, or allegations.”
The force added: “We understand the detrimental impact the conviction has had on the life of Mr Sullivan and do not underestimate the significance of being imprisoned for 38 years on his wellbeing. We are doing everything we can to find out who the new DNA evidence, which formed the basis of his release, belongs to.”
