Wrongful conviction of Peter Sullivan

British man Peter Sullivan was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Diane Sindall in 1987. He served 38 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA evidence on 13 May 2025, at the age of 68. He is the longest-serving known victim of a miscarriage of justice in British history.

On the morning of 2 August 1986, the body of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, of Seacombe, Merseyside, was found half-naked in an alleyway off Borough Road in Birkenhead. The night before, Sindall had left The Wellington Hotel in Bebington where she was working as a barmaid to save money for her forthcoming wedding. She had intended to drive home, but ended up walking along Borough Road after running out of fuel in Birkenhead.^[1]

Witnesses reported hearing screaming, and seeing and hearing a couple arguing, between midnight and 02:00 BST on 2 August. Sindall had sustained a fractured skull and injuries to her face, and had been sexually assaulted, with mutilation of the breasts and lacerated genitals.^[1][2] It was thought that Sindall had remained alive for some time after the attack. The cause of death was brain haemorrhage, probably caused by multiple blows to her head. Her body was examined by a pathologist who said that her injuries were "the very worst" he had ever seen on a body "outside of a road traffic accident".^[1]

The murder investigation which followed was the largest in the history of Merseyside Police.^[3] Newspapers named her killer the "Mersey Ripper" and the "Beast of Birkenhead".^[1]

Peter Sullivan, an unemployed labourer from Birkenhead, was arrested on suspicion of Sindall's murder on 23 September.^[1][4] He was arrested on circumstantial evidence; he reportedly gave conflicting statements to his whereabouts on 1 and 2 August, and—prior to having legal representation—broke down in tears and confessed to the murder before withdrawing the confession.^[1][2] He later repeated the confession, but withdrew it following access to a solicitor on 25 September; he was not previously given access to legal advice, as it was deemed that it may have been a "hindrance to the enquiry".^[1] Sullivan was later described by a psychologist as "suggestible" and having "limited intellectual capacity".^[1]

At trial in 1987, the evidence against Sullivan was his confessions, as well as bite marks on Sindall's body being matched to him.^[1] Sullivan pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years.^[3][5] Sullivan continued to maintain his innocence throughout his imprisonment.^[6]

In 2008 the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) rejected an application for Sullivan's conviction to be reviewed, saying that there was little chance that new DNA evidence could be recoverable.^[7] Sullivan's application to the Court of Appeal in 2019 was also rejected.^[7]

In 2021 the CCRC stated that advances in forensic investigation meant that retesting the crime scene samples had become worthwhile. Tests showed that Sullivan's DNA was not present in semen samples taken from the crime scene, and the genetic markers present indicated an unknown DNA profile.^[8]

Sullivan, at the age of 68, finally had his conviction quashed, by Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, in the Court of Appeal in May 2025, making him eligible for immediate release from prison.^[6][9] Merseyside Police are now investigating the DNA profile, which they confirmed does not match anyone from Sindall's family nor her fiancé. They plan to request samples from other people who were investigated during the original investigation.^[3][10]

Sullivan is the longest-serving known victim of a miscarriage of justice in British history.^[11] However, UK legislation requires that he must still prove that he is innocent "beyond reasonable doubt" if he wishes to claim compensation from the government.^[6]

MP Kim Johnson, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on miscarriages of justice, called for an independent inquiry into the case.^[6]

• List of miscarriage of justice cases