Man who was wrongly jailed for 38 years recalls emotional moment he was told he was finally free
A man spent 38 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.
Diane Sidall, then 21, was raped and murdered in 1986. The murder happened when Sindall was walking through Birkenhead, UK, in the early hours of August 2 1986.
A year later, Peter Sullivan blamed for her killing and sentenced to a minimum term of 16 years before he was eligible to apply for parole. He was just 30 years old at the time.
But Sullivan always maintained his innocence and has worked with his lawyer Sarah Myatt for more than 20 years in a bid to clear his name.
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While many people would have given up hope have so many years behind bars, Sullivan and Myatt never did. Then, last year crucial DNA evidence was finally unearthed due to scientific advances showing that it was another unknown man.
In May 2025, it was announced that Sullivan was to be set free.
Speaking to the BBC, he recalled the moment he got the news he'd been waiting almost 40 years for. Sullivan was listening via video-link from HMP Wakefield when the appeal judgement was given.
"When they came back in with the verdict that my case had been quashed, [the probation officer] burst into tears first," he said. "She turned around and said, 'Peter, you're going home'."
Sullivan went on: "Next minute, bang, all the tears started running down my face and that was it, I went, 'yes, justice has been done'."
Also recalling the moment he was driven out of prison, Sullivan shared: "I was watching the cars go by, and I've never seen so many different cars in my life on that road. It was daunting just seeing them all changed and everything."
Sullivan is now demanding an apology for his wrongful conviction.
"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," the 68-year-old said. "I’ve got to carry that burden until I can get an apology on what happened from everyone else who’s been involved with the case."
He continued: "That’s 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."
Both Sullivan's parents passed while he was in prison. He also claimed that he was denied permission to attend his mom's funeral in 2013 because she was buried at the same cemetery as Sidall.
In a statement to the BBC, Merseyside Police said that while it 'regretted' that a 'grave miscarriage of justice' had occurred, it maintained that their officers had acted in accordance with the law at the time.
Niamh Shackleton