Peter Sullivan has recounted how he was ‘bullied’ and beaten into confessing to a murder he did not commit before wrongfully spending 38 years in prison. His conviction was overturned this year. Sullivan, a victim of possibly the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history, told the BBC this week that he was ‘stitched up’ by Merseyside Police.
Mr Sullivan, now 68 years old, was convicted of the murder and sexual attack of Dianne Sindall in 1987. Newly discovered DNA testing led to his conviction being quashed.
In his first interview since his release, Mr Sullivan, who also has learning difficulties, explained that he wants an apology and explanation. He said, ‘I’ve got to carry that burden until I can get an apology’ and that he has ‘lost everything’. You can see previous coverage of his case here on the Justice Gap.
During the first seven police interviews, Mr Sullivan was denied legal advice. He said that ‘they were putting stuff into my mind, then they would send me back to my cell, then I’d come back and say what they wanted.’
He went on to recount two beatings that he experienced, ‘it really hurt, they were leathering me.’ He claimed they threw a blanket over him and hit him with truncheons to get him to co-operate. The officers told him that, if he didn’t confess, he would be charged with ’35 other rapes’. He was denied food and sleep.
The police knew that Mr Sullivan had learning difficulties, yet he was not provided with an appropriate adult to help him understand the interrogations. Merseyside Police has said its guidance on appropriate adults has since been strengthened.
The first time Mr Sullivan confessed to the murder was not on record and there were no solicitors present. ‘It was the bullying that forced me to throw my hands in, because I couldn’t take it anymore’.
Sarah Myatt, his solicitor, is helping Mr Sullivan apply for compensation which is capped at £1.3m. She said ‘there’s not a figure that you could say that would be enough for losing 38 years of your life.’
In the case of Andrew Malkinson, Shabana Mahood has commented that they are ‘considering the concerns’ surrounding the support given to victims of miscarriages of justice.
