Man wrongly jailed for 38 years says police forced false confession

A man wrongly jailed for 38 years has spoken of being beaten by police and bullied into making a false murder confession. Peter Sullivan, 68, the subject of one of the longest miscarriages of justice in British history, said he had lost everything and wanted an apology from Merseyside police.

- Mark Brown North of England correspondent

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

He had his conviction quashed by the court of appeal in May after new DNA tests were carried out.

In an interview with BBC North West six months after his release from jail, Sullivan claimed he had been beaten twice by police officers in his cell. "They threw a blanket over the top of me and they were hitting me on top of the blanket with the truncheons to try and get me to cooperate with them," he said. "It really hurt - they were leathering me."

Sullivan said he had been denied food, sleep and the attendance of an appropriate adult, despite police records noting he had learning difficulties. He claimed he had been told that if he did not confess he would be charged with "35 other rapes".