Illegally almost 40 years in prison: the UK court raised murder judgment

Illegally almost 40 years in prison: the UK court raised murder judgment

A man who spent almost four decades in a British prison for the murder of a Bardame said on Tuesday that he was not angry or bitter when his murder was lifted and he was released after his relief by DNA evidence.

The cancellation of the judgment

Peter Sullivan held his hand in front of his mouth and cried when the Court of Appeal in London lifted his judgment and ordered his release after he had fought for his innocence for years. Sullivan, 68 years old, saw the negotiation on video from Wakefield's prison in northern England and said through his lawyer that he was not resentful and looking forward to seeing his relatives.

an emotional moment

"So true to me God, it means that the truth will free you," read the lawyer Sarah Myatt in a statement outside of the court. "It is regrettable that this does not specify a time frame while we are working on removing the illegalities that have happened to me. I'm not angry, I'm not bitter." According to Myatt, he was the longest imprisoned victim of a judiciary in the United Kingdom.

The case Diane are

Sullivan was condemned in 1987 because of the murder of Diane Sindall in Bebington, near Liverpool, and was in prison for 38 years. Sindall, 21, was a florist and was about to be wedding. On a Friday evening in August 1986, after her part -time job in a pub, her car assumed the fuel. For the last time she was seen on the street after midnight.

Her body was found in an alley about 12 hours later, she was sexually abused and seriously injured.

latest DNA analyzes

sexual liquid that was found on the body of Sindallall has recently been scientifically analyzed. A test in 2024 showed that the liquid did not come from Sullivan, defender Jason Pitter said. "The indictment assumes that it was a person who committed sexual assault on the victim," said Pitter. "The evidence now shows that this person was not the accused."

The reaction of the public prosecutor's office

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson stood against the appeal and declared that if the DNA evidence had been available at the time of the investigation, it would have been unimaginable that Sullivan had been charged. The Merseyside police announced that she has resumed investigations in the course of the procedure and "do everything" to find the murderer.

review by the Commission for Criminal Legal Presections

The Commission for Criminal Legal Presections, which examined the possible judiciary, had not forwarded Sullivan's case to the Court of Appeal in 2008, since it was of the opinion that the tests would probably not generate a DNA profile at this point. A spokesman for the Commission said that it made the right decision based on the evidence at that time, but regretted not having recognized the potential error in the first review.

reparation

Sullivan had lodged in 2019 without the help of the CCRC appointment, but the courts dismissed his application in 2021. Later in the same year, the Commission took up the case again and was able to apply scientific techniques that were not available for the previous review, and found the DNA that Sullivan brought up. "In view of this evidence, it is impossible to consider the complainant's judgment to be safe," said judge Timothy Holroyde.

a painful inheritance

The police stated that the DNA, which was found in the later investigation, does not match anyone in a national database. Suspects, including Sindalls fiance and several family members, as well as more than 260 men who have been checked since the investigation was resumed. Sullivan's sister, Kim Smith, spoke before the court about the effects of the case on two families: "We lost Peter for 39 years, and in the end not only we are affected," said Smith. "Peter did not win and the family Sindall also did not. They lost their daughter, they will not come back. We have Peter back, and now we have to try to build a new life around him."