Peter Sullivan Freed After 38 Years
Peter Sullivan Freed After 38 Years: The Court of Appeal verdict brings what is believed to be the longest miscarriage of justice in the history of Great Britain.
A man who has been jailed for 38 years for murder has had his conviction quashed – but he said he is “not angry” or “bitter”.
The ruling by the Court of Appeal in the case of Peter Sullivan brings an end to what they believe is the longest miscarriage of justice in the history of Britain.
He was convicted of the 1986 killing of Diane Sindall, a 21 year old woman who had suffered from extensive beatings, rape and abandoned in an alley in Bebington, Merseyside.
Mr Sullivan, who went to prison in 1987, had always claimed that he was innocent and first sought a challenge to his conviction in 2016, but the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) decided against referring the case and he lost an appeal bid in 2019.
In 2015, he turned to the CCRC again to refer his case and the new tests, ordered by the commission, showed that there was no Mr Sullivan DNA in samples preserved at the moment.
Appealing to the Court of Appeal in London on Tuesday, Mr Sullivan’s lawyers told the UK Court that the evidence in question, which the lawyers say was not passed on to them, showed that “the killer of Ms Sindall was not the defendant.”
Mr Sullivan appeared at the hearing via a video link from HMP Wakefield hearing his conviction quashed with his head down and arms folded, before appearing to appear to weep and put his hand over his mouth.
In court, alongside a relative also wept as the judgment was read out.
’The truth will set you free’
And in a statement after the ruling, Mr Sullivan – now 68 – said: It is four decades ago that I lost my liberty because of a crime I did not commit.
“What happened to me was very wrong, but does not take away from the fact that what happened… was a heinous and most terrible loss of life”.
He added: It is supposed that the truth will set you free. It is unfortunate that it does not provide timescale as we proceed towards the establishing of the wrongs done to me.
I am not angry, there is no point in being angry, I am not bitter.
I am only eager to get back to my loved ones and family since I need to make the most of what I have left of the life that I get to be given in this world.
Out of court, Mr Sullivan’s sister, Kim Smith, said that she was “ecstatic” to see her brother’s conviction quashed.
She told reporters: We lost Peter for 39 years, and finally, it does not affect us only, in the end, but it is not only Peter who has lost, the Sindall family has not won either. They’ve 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. We do feel sorry for the Sindalls and it is such a shame this should have to happen at all this time.
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) barristers said that the DNA evidence was “sufficient fundamentally to cast doubt on the safety of the conviction” and that there was “no credible basis on which the appeal can be opposed”.
Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Goss, and Mr Justice Bryan said, because of the new DNA evidence, “it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe,” as they quashed the conviction.
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Hunt for DNA match
Detectives are now said to be carrying out an extensive investigation in a bid to identify who the new DNA profile belongs to as there is nothing on the national DNA database for the time being, Merseyside Police has confirmed.
Detectives are also asking people who’ve been identified in the original investigation to provide voluntary DNA samples.
That initial investigation was the biggest in the history of the force and for many officers, the “frenzied” nature of the attack was the worst case that any of them had ever seen.
Ms Sindall, who was promised to be married to somebody, was on her way home after finishing work as a part-time barmaid at a pub in Bebington when her small blue van ran out of petrol.
She was in the process of going to an all-night garage when she was attacked.
The attacker, Mr Sullivan, who was 29 and said to be a loner, denied the attack at first and then signed a confession.
There since been questions about whether he had legal representation when he was being interviewed by the police. Evidence which played a crucial role at the trial on bite marks on MSindall’s body has also been questioned.
During the trial of Mr Sullivan in 1987, there was no DNA technology that was available and subsequent requests for new tests had been denied.
‘Nobody felt safe’
A stone in tribute to the woman and “and all of our sisters who have been raped and murdered” has been put in the grass verge near where the body of Ms Sindall was found.
This murder made the cold run through the community and gave birth to the Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre on Merseyside. “No one felt safe, it was a very scary time”, Jo Wood of the centre said.
She says that the uncertainty has come back. “There’s someone out there who killed Diane Sindall,” said solicitor Ms Myatt.
The biggest fear that we’ve got is the fear of the unknown, and now we have the fear of the unknown. We do not know who it could be. Who has an idea of who this person is? Is he going to appear to us?
“We may have seen him, we don’t know, we only know he is out there. ”
Ms Sindall’s family also told the Sky News that they did not have a desire to comment on this matter.
Mel John, the landlord of the pub Ms Sindall was employed at during the night she died, said. It is good if he is being set free if he is innocent. It has been a long time since.
His solicitor also says that Mr Sullivan is aware of the effect of his actions on Ms Sindall’s family.
“We are very aware and very sensitive and respectful to the fact that there is a victim, Diane Sindall, and her family, that will be impacted by this process,” the solicitor said.
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