A former labourer who spent the last 38 years in jail for the murder of a young florist was dramatically set free today after a court found new DNA evidence rendered the conviction unsafe.
Peter Sullivan has repeatedly tried to get the murder conviction overturned amid concerns about the evidence used against him found on 21-year-old Diane Sindall’s body and gleaned from police interviews.
But ‘newly discovered’ DNA evidence which has emerged in the last two years suggested Mr Sullivan was wrongly jailed, despite spending most of his adult life incarcerated.
Appeal Court judges today found in favour of the 68-year-old, who has learning difficulties, marking the longest miscarriage of justice in UK history.
Mr Sullivan, watching the hearing remotely from HMP Wakefield, sat with his arms folded over his chest and showed no emotion as the three judges, led by Lord Justice Holroyde, announced their decision following a two-hour hearing.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Sullivan said in a statement read out by his lawyer: ‘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.
‘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 world.’
Members of Mr Sullivan’s family in the public gallery wept as Lord Justice Holroyde announced: ‘We quash the conviction.’
He continued: ‘Strong though the circumstantial evidence undoubtedly seemed at the trial, it is now necessary to take into account the new scientific evidence pointing to someone else – the unknown man.
‘If the new evidence had been available in 1986, the evidence as a whole would have been regarded as insufficient. In the light of that evidence it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe.’
A woman, confirming she was Sullivan’s sister, and accompanied by two men believed to be his brothers, thanked the press outside court and headed straight into a pub nearby.
He will now be released from custody.
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.’
It means the DNA found on Miss Sindall’s sexually mutilated body belongs to a mystery suspect whose details are not on the National DNA Database or linked to any other unsolved offences.
Detectives with Merseyside Police have begun a fresh investigation into Miss Sindall’s violent death.
Prosecutors admitted there was no basis on which Mr Sullivan would ever have been charged if the new evidence – made available by significant scientific advances – was available at the time.
Duncan Atkinson KC, on behalf of the CPS, told the Court of Appeal: ‘We do not seek to argue that this fresh DNA evidence does not undermine the safety of the appellant’s (Mr Sullivan’s) conviction.’
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.’
He added: ‘The DNA evidence provides a clear and uncontroverted basis to suggest that another person was responsible for both the sexual assault and the murder.
‘As such, it positively undermines the circumstantial case against Mr Sullivan as identified at the time both of his trial and his 2021 appeal.’
Miss Sindall was brutally killed after she left work in Bebington, Birkenhead, Merseyside, 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 forthcoming 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.’
He added: ‘The prosecution case is that it was one person. It was one person who carried out a sexual assault on the victim.
‘The evidence here is now that one person was not the defendant.’
Mr Sullivan, once dubbed the Beast of Birkenhead, appeared overcome with emotion as the hearing concluded.
He could be seen rubbing his hands over his face, appearing to wipe away tears, and then looked towards the sky.
Merseyside Police said the vital DNA evidence was not available during the original investigation into Peter Sullivan and officers are now ‘committed to doing everything’ to find the person whose DNA was left at the scene where Ms Sindall died.
Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill 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 underway.
‘We can confirm that the DNA does not belong to any member of Diane’s family, nor Diane’s fiance at the time, and we believe it could be a vital piece of evidence linking the killer to the scene.
‘To date more than 260 men have been screened and eliminated from the investigation which was reopened in 2023.
‘The investigation team has obtained most of the samples locally, however, screening has also taken place in Swansea, Perth, London, Hull and Newcastle with the provision of voluntary DNA elimination samples.’
