“38 Years Lost: The Shocking DNA Twist That Freed a Man Convicted of Murder He Never Committed 😱🔍”

In a landmark ruling on 13 May 2025, the Court of Appeal in London quashed the conviction of 68-year-old Peter Sullivan, who had spent nearly four decades in prison for a murder he did not commit.

It is now considered the longest-running wrongful conviction involving a living prisoner in UK history.

Back in August 1986, 21-year-old Diane Sindall, a florist and part-time pub worker from Bebington, Merseyside, embarked on what should have been a routine journey home from a late-night shift.

Her blue Fiat van ran out of petrol on Borough Road, and she was seen walking past midnight towards a petrol station.

Her body was discovered some twelve hours later in an alleyway off Borough Road: sexually assaulted, brutally beaten and left semi-clothed.

Just over a year later, in November 1987, Sullivan was convicted of her murder and given a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years.

The prosecution’s case hinged on Sullivan having been drinking heavily after losing a darts match, allegedly taking a crowbar and going out that night before a chance encounter with Sindall.

He has always maintained his innocence.

Appearing via video link from his cell at HMP Wakefield, Sullivan listened with his head bowed and arms folded as the Court announced the verdict’s reversal.

Tearful and visibly emotional, he covered his mouth with his hand.

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, read a statement on his behalf: “As God is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free … I am not angry, I am not bitter.

I am simply anxious to return to my loved ones and family and make the most of what is left of this existence I am granted in this world.”

What finally cracked the case open was modern forensic science.

The independent body Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) reopened Sullivan’s application, securing preserved crime-scene sexual fluid samples and applying advanced DNA testing.

The results revealed the DNA did not match Sullivan but instead matched an unidentified individual labeled “Unknown Male One.

” The prosecuting service admitted that had this evidence been available in 1986, it would have been “difficult to see how a decision to prosecute could have been made.”

In its verdict, the Court found that “in the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe.

” Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde, Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan sat on the panel and emphasised the profound implications of the flawed conviction.

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Sullivan’s sister, Kim Smith, tearfully addressed the media: “We lost Peter for 39 years … At the end of the day it’s not just us.

Peter hasn’t won and neither has the Sindall family.

They’ve lost their daughter, they are not going to get her back.”

In parallel, the Merseyside Police reopened the murder investigation in 2023.

Despite screening more than 260 men and eliminating them as suspects, no match has yet been found for the DNA profile identified at the scene.

Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill said investigators are “committed to doing everything we can to find to whom the DNA profile belongs.”

She added: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Diane Sindall who continue to mourn her loss.”

Sullivan’s journey to freedom was long and stumbling.

In 2008 the CCRC declined to refer his case to the appeal court, reasoning that testing at the time was unlikely to produce a DNA profile.

He tried an appeal in 2019 which was dismissed in 2021.

Eventually in 2021 he reapplied to the CCRC; new testing followed and led to the referral in late 2024.

Legal experts say this case shines a harsh light on the systemic weaknesses of the UK justice-system’s safety nets.

According to lawyer James Burley of the advocacy charity Appeal, Sullivan’s exoneration “provides further evidence that our current appeals system cannot be trusted to swiftly identify and rectify miscarriages of justice.”

Professor Rebecca Helm of the University of Exeter’s miscarriages-of-justice registry echoed that the case “underscores the importance of having a mechanism through which convictions based on evidence that is known to be misleading … can be scrutinised even in the absence of ‘new’ evidence … to protect others who have been wrongfully convicted.”

As for Diane Sindall’s family, the ruling offers no solace for their loss.

The judge acknowledged the attack “blighted the lives of her fiancé, her family and all those who loved her.

” He offered condolences but also remarked that the new evidence “makes the conviction unsafe.”

The broader question now looms: how many other cases are out there, locked into decades of custody, awaiting the forensic advances that might set them free? Sullivan is believed to be the longest-serving living victim of a wrongful conviction in Britain.

For Peter Sullivan, the world outside prison walls has changed vastly in the 38 years he was behind bars.

He remarked that after “being stripped of my youth and mobility, sight and hearing,” he now wants only one thing: to rebuild a life around his loved ones and reclaim whatever time remains.

“I have had to silently endure this,” he said.

As investigators continue the hunt for the unknown assailant whose DNA was found at the 1986 crime scene, the case remains open—and the promise of accountability remains distant.

Meanwhile, the justice system must reckon with the fact that one man lost nearly forty years of his life for a crime he did not commit.

This is not just a personal tragedy: it is a warning.

And it is a call to action.