Who is Peter Sullivan and why was he jailed?

Peter Sullivan spent much than 38 years successful jailhouse successful what is believed to beryllium the biggest miscarriage of justness successful British history.

The execution of 21-year-old Diane Sindall successful Birkenhead successful 1986 sparked the biggest manhunt Merseyside had ever seen.

But Sullivan, present 68, and his defence squad agelong insisted the constabulary had got the incorrect man.

The BBC's archives from the mid 1980s and tribunal documents assistance portion unneurotic what happened earlier Sullivan was jailed for beingness for a transgression idiosyncratic other committed.

You tin work much from the Court of Appeal proceeding which saw his condemnation overturned successful our study here.

Ms Sindall was well-known successful her hometown of Seacombe successful Wirral.

Her household ran a well-known floristry business, and she could often beryllium seen driving her bluish van around, delivering flowers.

In 1986 Ms Sindall was trying to prevention wealth to get joined the pursuing year, truthful worked down the barroom astatine the Wellington pub successful Bebington, 5 miles southbound of Seacombe.

She was moving astatine the Wellington connected 1 August 1986, the past nighttime she was seen alive.

Ms Sindall acceptable disconnected from the Wellington to thrust location astatine astir 23:45 BST.

After her van ran retired of petrol successful Birkenhead she started walking on the engaged and well-lit main way of Borough Road.

The series of events that led to Ms Sindall's decease was reconstructed by the BBC's Crimewatch a fewer weeks later.

A taxi operator told Crimewatch that helium saw a antheral and a pistillate arguing astatine astir 00:10 connected Borough Road.

"The chap enactment his manus retired towards the girl. They appeared to cognize each different but they were decidedly arguing", helium said.

People reported proceeding screams betwixt 00:30 and 02:00 - the clip erstwhile Ms Sindall is thought to person encountered the antheral who attacked her.

Her half-naked assemblage was recovered successful an alleyway disconnected Borough Road by a canine walker the adjacent morning.

She had a fractured skull, facial lacerations and bruising, mutilated breasts and lacerated genitals, according to tribunal documents seen by the BBC.

It was thought Ms Sindall had remained live for immoderate clip aft the attack, but she died from a encephalon haemorrhage thought to person been caused by aggregate blows to the head.

A pathologist who examined Ms Sindall's assemblage aboriginal said successful tribunal her injuries were "the precise worst" helium had ever seen connected a assemblage "outside of a roadworthy postulation accident".

Merseyside Police spoke to 3,000 radical arsenic portion of its investigation.

The onslaught caused shock, revulsion and anxiety, particularly among women and girls.

"Girls were acrophobic to beryllium connected the streets alone", said erstwhile Liverpool Echo writer John Thompson, who covered the lawsuit astatine the time.

"Fathers, boyfriends, brothers and husbands would prime women up from enactment and archer them not to permission the premises until they were close extracurricular the door," helium said.

"There was existent terror," helium added, due to the fact that Ms Sindall's execution was "different - it was horrific".

"[There was] idiosyncratic was connected the streets of Merseyside who was a existent information to women, who needed to beryllium caught".

The onslaught led to the area's archetypal Reclaim the Night march crossed the River Mersey. The question had been acceptable up successful Leeds successful 1977, during Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe's sidesplitting spree, arsenic a effect to constabulary proposal that women should enactment indoors.

"It was the sheer normality of it that was truthful scary, due to the fact that immoderate of america could person conscionable tally retired of petrol and been walking on the road", said Josephine Wood from RASA Merseyside, a foundation that supports victims of rape and intersexual battle founded successful the aftermath of Miss Sindall's death.

At 1 point, detectives were said to beryllium considering interviewing each antheral successful Birkenhead.

But for weeks they appeared to person nary leads, and nary hint astir however Ms Sindall had ended up successful the alleyway, due to the fact that cipher saw the onslaught instrumentality place.

The time aft Ms Sindall's execution immoderate of her apparel were recovered burning successful a tiny occurrence connected adjacent Bidston Hill, and a passing mates told constabulary they saw a man, moving retired of bushes, whom they recognised arsenic "Pete".

But they failed to prime him retired of an individuality parade.

More witnesses to the occurrence contacted the constabulary aft the Crimewatch reconstruction, and their descriptions of the antheral they saw prompted the constabulary to spell backmost to Sullivan.

He was arrested for execution connected 23 September aft helium gave officers a fig of "completely different" accounts of his movements.

The adjacent day, tribunal documents amusement Sullivan broke down successful tears nether questioning and "confessed" to the murder.

He withdrew the evident confession aboriginal that day, but reinstated it soon afterwards.

Sullivan had not been fixed entree to ineligible proposal by that point. It had been withheld connected the grounds that it would person caused a "hindrance to the enquiry".

When helium was fixed entree to a solicitor connected 25 September, helium retracted his confessions and told constabulary helium had made them up.

His proceedings successful 1987 was told astir his evident confessions, arsenic good arsenic claims from dental experts that wound marks connected Ms Sindall's assemblage could beryllium matched to Mr Sullivan's teeth.

On the nighttime Sullivan was jailed for beingness for murder, BBC North West Tonight reported however helium stood silently successful the dock astatine Liverpool Crown Court, portion his parent broke down and screamed, and his sister fainted and had to beryllium revived.

After Sullivan was sentenced, Det Supt Tom Baxter told the BBC Sullivan "wasn't an excitable person", adding "he seemed to beryllium a quiescent benignant of chap - but what is the benignant of idiosyncratic that perpetrate these murders?"

Mr Sullivan was past condemned to beryllium known for the remainder of his beingness by the names helium had been fixed by immoderate of the tabloid newspapers - "the Beast of Birkenhead" and "the Mersey Ripper".

Ms Sindall's slayer has not been identified.

An unsuccessful entreaty proceeding successful 2019 heard assorted criticisms of the constabulary probe and the 1987 trial.

Last twelvemonth it was announced caller forensic investigating of a semen illustration from the country had revealed a DNA illustration which did not lucifer Mr Sullivan - but officers person not been capable to place the idiosyncratic it does match.

In February, Merseyside Police said it had reopened its probe into Ms Sindall's murder, and had sent letters to radical identified successful 1986 asking them to voluntarily taxable DNA samples truthful they could beryllium "eliminated" from their enquiries.

Psychologist Dr Harry Wood said his appraisal of Sullivan had highlighted his "limited intelligence capacity" and "suggestibility", which helium said should person led to concerns astir his answers successful interviews and his evident confessions.

He besides said that successful the contiguous time Mr Sullivan would person been accompanied by a solicitor successful his interviews and astir apt an "appropriate adult" who would person the task of safeguarding the interests of a susceptible person.

Expert dentist Prof Iain Pretty besides criticised the claims made successful the proceedings which linked wound marks to Mr Sullivan's teeth.

There is present renewed interest connected Merseyside that a murderer has remained astatine ample and unpunished for adjacent to 40 years.

In Birkenhead, caller flowers and tiny notes are inactive near astatine a tiny achromatic granite memorial to her adjacent to the country of the onslaught connected Borough Road.

It states Ms Sindall was murdered "because she was a woman".