'I was jailed for 38 years for murder I didn't commit - but I'm not angry or bitter'

A man who spent 38 years behind bars has had his murder conviction quashed in what is thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history. Peter Sullivan, now 68, was dubbed the “Beast of Birkenhead” after being wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of florist and part-time barmaid, Diane Sindall, 21, who was killed as she left work in Bebington, Merseyside.

It was alleged in August 1986 he had spent the day drinking heavily after losing a darts match and went out armed with a crowbar before a chance encounter with Miss Sindall. Her van had broken down on her way home from a shift in the pub and she was walking to a petrol station when she was beaten to death and sexually assaulted. Her body was left partly clothed and mutilated.

Mr Sullivan, who attended the hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield, listened to the ruling with his head down and arms folded, and appeared to weep and put his hand to his mouth as his conviction was quashed.

In a statement read out by his lawyer he said: “I lost my liberty four decades ago over a crime I did not commit. We now know how very different the times we live in are from scientific advances, legal practice and methods of investigation and questioning by the police.

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“What happened to me was very wrong but it does not detract or minimise that all of this happened off the back of a heinous and most terrible loss of life. I did not commit murder or unlawfully take the life of any person throughout the span of my own.

“As God is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free. It is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale as we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter.

“I am simply anxious to return to my loved ones and family as I've got to make the most of what is left of the existence I am granted in this .”

His sister, Kim Smith, said: “We lost Peter for 39 years and at the end of the day it's not just us, Peter hasn't won and neither has the Sindall family. They've lost their daughter, they are not going to get her back.

“We've got Peter back and now we've got to try and build a life around him again. We feel sorry for the Sindall's and it's such a shame this has had to happen in the first place.”

Mr Sullivan - who has always protested his innocence - has tried to get his conviction overturned on two previous occasions.

After his lawyers took his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) new tests were ordered which revealed Sullivan’s DNA was not present on samples preserved at the time.

At the Court of Appeal yesterday (Tues) Duncan Atkinson KC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said analysis of the DNA showed it came from someone known as “unknown male one”.

He said it was “one billion times more likely that the sample originated from unknown male one, rather than someone else, and it did not match the appellant”.

He said: “Had this DNA evidence been available at the time a decision was taken to prosecute, it is difficult to see how a decision to prosecute could have been made.”

Quashing the conviction, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, said they had “no doubt that it is both necessary and expedient in the interests of justice” to accept the new DNA evidence.

He said: “In the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe.”

Lord Justice Holroyde added: “The brutal attack which ended Miss Sindall’s young life also blighted the lives of her fiancee, her family and all those who loved her. We offer our condolences to the bereaved.”

said the crucial DNA evidence was not available during the original investigation and officers were now “committed to doing everything” to find the person whose DNA was left at the scene where Diane Sindall died.

Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill said that more than 260 men had been screened and eliminated from the investigation since it was reopened in 202.

She said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Diane Sindall who continue to mourn her loss and will have to endure the implications of this new development so many years after her murder. We are committed to doing everything within our power to find whom the DNA, which was left at the scene, belongs to.

“Unfortunately, there is no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database.

“We have enlisted specialist skills and expertise from the National Crime Agency, and with their support we are proactively trying to identify the person the DNA profile belongs to, and extensive and painstaking inquiries are under way.”

Speaking outside court, Mr Sullivan's solicitor Sarah Myatt said: “This is an unprecedented and historic moment. Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK.

“He has endured nearly 40 years in a category A prison for a truly horrific crime that he did not commit. Today, justice has been at last served, and his conviction has been quashed.”

Miss Sindall was brutally killed in August 1986. Mr Sullivan was convicted of her murder in November the following year. Prosecutors said he had spent the day drinking heavily, and went out armed with a crowbar before a chance encounter with Miss Sindall. Evidence at the time suggested Mr Sullivan had recently borrowed a crowbar from a neighbour, left for London shortly after the murder arousing suspicion, and was placed near the scene by witnesses who gave his description.

Miss Sindall’s florist van had broken down on her way home from a pub shift and she was walking to a petrol station to get some spare fuel. She had been working late to pay for her upcoming wedding. She was ambushed, sexually assaulted and then beaten to death, her body left partially clothed and mutilated in an alleyway where it was discovered the following day.

In November the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said that Mr Sullivan's conviction had been referred to the Court of Appeal on the basis of DNA evidence. Samples taken at the time of the murder were re-examined and a DNA profile that did not match Mr Sullivan was found, the commission said.

Mr Sullivan applied to the body to have his case re-examined in 2021, raising concerns about police interviews, bite mark evidence and the murder weapon. He claimed he had not been provided with an appropriate adult during interviews and was initially denied legal representation.

Mr Sullivan had previously applied to the CCRC in 2008 raising questions about DNA evidence, but forensic experts said that further testing was unlikely to reveal a DNA profile. He applied to the High Court for permission to appeal against his conviction in 2019 over bite mark evidence, but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2021.

Mr Sullivan had initially confessed to the murder, before retracting the claims. He said detectives forced a confession from him, initially barred him from seeing a solicitor and denied him support from an “appropriate adult”, who, it is said, should have been appointed to safeguard his interests as a vulnerable person.

Jason Pitter KC, representing Mr Sullivan, described how the most recent scientific advances backed his client's contention that he was the victim of wrongful conviction.

He told the Appeal Court: “At this time this matter was originally before the court, there was not the scientific capability to carry out analysis of that material. The material was not able to be analysed. But since 2024, an analysis has been carried out on that material. The DNA from that cellular material found on the deceased … could be attributed to an unknown male.'

Downing Street said the Peter Sullivan judgment must be carefully considered to get both him and Diane Sindall's family "the answers they deserve". A Number 10 spokesman said: "It's clear that Peter Sullivan has suffered a grave miscarriage of justice and our thoughts are also with Diane Sindall's family on what must be an incredibly difficult day. We must carefully consider this judgment and look at how this could have happened and get both him and Diane's family the answers they deserve.”