Man wrongfully jailed for nearly four decades weeps as UK court overturns murder conviction

Peter Sullivan spent 38 years in a British prison for a murder he didn’t commit. On Tuesday, a London court quashed his conviction after new DNA evidence proved his innocence.

Sullivan, now 68, appeared by video from Wakefield Prison as the Court of Appeal announced its decision. He broke down in tears, covering his mouth as the judges ordered his release.

“I am not angry, I am not bitter,” Sullivan said in a statement read by his attorney, Sarah Myatt. “As God is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free. It is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale.”

Sullivan had been convicted in 1987 of killing 21-year-old Diane Sindall in Bebington, northwest England. Sindall, a florist and bride-to-be, had run out of fuel on her way home from a pub job. Her body was found the next morning in an alley. She had been beaten and sexually assaulted.

The case hinged on circumstantial evidence. For decades, forensic tests could not analyze the fluid found on Sindall’s body. That changed in 2024, when advanced DNA testing revealed that the biological material did not belong to Sullivan.

“The prosecution case is that it was one person who sexually assaulted the victim,” said defense attorney Jason Pitter. “The evidence here is now that one person was not the defendant.”

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson did not contest the appeal. “Had this DNA evidence been available at the time, it is inconceivable that Sullivan would have been prosecuted,” he said.

Justice Timothy Holroyde agreed, stating, “In the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe.”

Sullivan became the longest-serving person wrongfully imprisoned in the U.K., according to his attorney.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an agency tasked with reviewing potential miscarriages of justice, had declined to refer his case in 2008. At the time, it believed testing wouldn’t produce viable DNA.

A CCRC spokesperson said the decision was based on the evidence available then but admitted regret for not spotting the miscarriage of justice sooner. In 2019, Sullivan appealed without the CCRC’s help but was turned down in 2021. The CCRC reopened the case that same year, using newer technology to uncover the evidence that led to Sullivan’s release.

The Merseyside Police have reopened their investigation and are seeking the real killer. DNA from the scene does not match anyone in the national database. Police have already ruled out Sindall’s fiancé, her family, and over 260 men screened since the reinvestigation began.

Outside the courtroom, Sullivan’s sister, Kim Smith, expressed grief and relief.

“We lost Peter for 39 years,” she said. “But it’s not just us. The Sindall family 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.”

The case now joins a growing list of wrongful convictions overturned with the help of DNA. As with Japan’s Iwao Hakamata, who was also recently exonerated after decades on death row, the truth took years to surface. But for Sullivan, freedom has finally arrived—after nearly four decades lost behind bars.