'I'm not bitter' says Peter Sullivan as murder conviction quashed after 38 years
Peter Sullivan has said he is “not angry” and “not bitter” after the Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction on Tuesday (May 13).
The now-68-year-old, was given a life sentence in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall who was found dead on August 2, 1986. Ms Sindall was found in an alleyway in Birkenhead after leaving her place of work in Bebington.
It was alleged that Mr Sullivan had spent the day drinking heavily after losing a darts match, and went out armed with a crowbar before a chance encounter with Ms Sindall.
Her florist van had broken down on her way home from a pub shift and she was walking to a petrol station, when she was beaten to death and sexually assaulted, and her body left partially clothed and mutilated.
Peter Sullivan, who was 29 at the time of the attack, was found guilty in 1987 of her murder but has long maintained his innocence. Now 68 years old, Mr Sullivan has served 38 years in prison for murder and has tried twice before to get his conviction overturned.
Peter Sullivan is now believed to be the UK’s longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice, after three senior judges ruled it was “impossible” to rule his conviction as “safe”.
Mr Sullivan’s case appeared before the Court of Appeal on the basis of new DNA findings relating to semen found on Ms Sindall’s body. Lord Justice Holroyde stated that, at the time of his conviction, “the evidence as a whole would have been considered as insufficient to charge” had the new findings been available.
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.
Mr Sullivan attended the hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield and appeared to weep as his conviction was quashed.
In a statement read out by his solicitor following the judgment, Mr Sullivan said: “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.”
He added: I’m not angry, I’m not bitter.”
Merseyside Police said they “believe there are people who have information, or suspicions” about the murder of Diane Sindall and are appealing for information.