Man jailed for 1987 killing has conviction quashed

A 68-year-old man who has spent 38 years in jail has had his murder conviction quashed at the court of appeal in what is thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history.

- Mark Brown Haroon Siddique Aletha Adu

Peter Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the murder of Diane Sindall, 21, a florist and part-time pub worker, who was killed after leaving work in Bebington, Merseyside.

It was alleged that in August 1986, Sullivan spent the day drinking heavily after losing a darts match and went out armed with a crowbar before encountering Sindall.

Her florist van had broken down on her way home from a pub shift and she was walking towards a petrol station when she was beaten to death and sexually assaulted. Her body was left partly clothed and mutilated.

Sullivan always protested his innocence and lawyers tried twice before to get his conviction overturned.

In a statement read by his lawyer, Sarah Myatt, outside the court on his behalf, Sullivan said too many horrors had been inflicted on him to detail. "As God is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free," he said. "It is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale as we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter. I am simply anxious to return to my loved ones and family as I've got to make the most of what is left of the existence I am granted in this world."