Murder suspect’s conviction overturned, released after 38 years in British prison

International

AFTER spending nearly four decades in jail, a man who was initially convicted for the 1986 murder of a 21-year-old barmaid was released.

Peter Sullivan, who was accused of murdering Diane Sindall, has spent 38 years in jail before he was freed after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The court's decision came after new DNA evidence emerged, revealing a DNA profile that points to an unknown attacker in semen samples preserved from the crime scene, a BBC report said.

Sindall was attacked and murdered on August 2, 1986, in Birkenhead, Merseyside. She had been working at the Wellington pub in Bebington and was walking home from her shift when she was attacked and dragged into an alley.

Sindall suffered repeated blows to the head, which caused her death, and also had injuries including bite marks and lacerations.

The day after her killing her clothes were found burning on Bidston Hill.

ullivan became a suspect after witnesses reported seeing a man who they recognised as "Pete" running out of some bushes near the site of the fire.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred Sullivan's case back to the appeal court, citing the fresh DNA evidence as grounds for reconsidering his conviction.

Following a hearing, Lord Justice Holroyde delivered the court's judgment, stating:

"In the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellant's conviction as safe."

The judge's decision was based on the new DNA evidence, which was not available at the time of Sullivan's original trial.

The DNA profile found in the semen samples did not match Sullivan, but rather pointed to an unknown individual.

Lord Justice Holroyde noted that the injuries sustained by Sindall "plainly did point to a sexual aspect of the attack" and that the "inference was very strong" that the semen had been left by the real killer.

Sullivan, who was 68 years old at the time of the appeal, had consistently maintained his innocence throughout his imprisonment. As he appeared on video-link from HMP Wakefield, he sobbed and held his hand over his mouth upon hearing the news of his conviction being quashed.

In a statement read by his solicitor, Sullivan expressed his feelings about the ordeal he had endured.

"What happened to me was very wrong but does not detract that what happened was a heinous and most terrible loss of life. 'The truth shall set you free.'"(Sheila Mae Allego, CTU-TC Intern)