A CONVICTED murderer imprisoned for nearly 40 years after confessing to mutilating a barmaid has professed his innocence amid “new” DNA evidence.
Peter Sullivan, then-aged 29, dubbed the “Beast of Birkenhead”, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the murder of florist Diane Sindall, 21, with a crowbar in Bebington, Merseyside.
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Now, new DNA evidence has helped Sullivan’s murder conviction to be referred to the Court of Appeal, following his application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in 2021.
Diane’s brutal death took place in late summer of 1986 after she had left work at the Wellington Hotel one Friday evening.
She had been working shifts at the venue to help pay for her upcoming wedding to her childhood sweetheart.
However, little did she know her shift on 1 August, 1986, would tragically be her last.
Around 15 minutes into her short journey home, the part-time barmaid ran out of fuel, coming to a stop near a roundabout in Birkenhead.
She was left with no choice but to grab her jerry can from the back of her Fiat Fiorino van and walk to the nearest petrol station.
Witnesses say they saw Diane stop the vehicle at around 11.45pm and she was dressed in a white top with black spots, jeans, green high-heeled shoes and was carrying a handbag.
Despite walking along the busy and well-lit Borough Road, the young woman met her untimely demise on this path.
At some point shortly after midnight, Diane was savagely beaten to death, with her half-naked, mutilated and assaulted body left discarded in an alleyway.
Bus driver Gary Lamb told police he had spotted her at 0.03am just before a bus stop.
She had also reportedly been seen at 0.10am by a taxi driver who saw a woman struggling and arguing with a man – he added they appeared to know each other.
Diane’s body was only discovered around 12 hours later on Saturday by a woman walking her dog having been beaten around her face, head, and body.
Despite having multiple fractures, her bra and t-shirt pulled up around her neck, and her jeans, shoes, underwear, and handbag all missing, Diane was still wearing her diamond engagement ring.
Merseyside Police then launched its largest ever murder inquiry to hunt for the killer, also nicknamed “The Wolfman” for the bite marks found on Diane’s body.
Sullivan was a petty criminal with a string of convictions who had also spent time in a youth detention centre when he was a teenager, although he had no history of sexual violence.
The unemployed labourer had a reputation of being an attention-seeking character and was charged with Diane’s murder following a “confession”.
However, he later retracted this and claimed it was made under duress from police but this did not stop him being convicted of murder at Liverpool Crown Court and jailed for life in November 1987.
‘GRIEVOUS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE’
Sullivan has continuously maintained his innocence, with new DNA evidence meaning he could potentially be exonerated in what could be one of the “most grievous miscarriages of justice to date.”
The CCRC has said that Sullivan’s application in March 2021 raised concerns about his interviews by police, bitemark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon.
It then obtained DNA evidence from samples taken at the time of the offence, which were then proven to not match Sullivan’s.
Following this, the CCRC sent his case back to the courts and it has been referred to the Court of Appeal.
An investigation by The Mail on Sunday found alleged behaviour by some CID officers in Merseyside Police during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including giving suspects a “good banging” in order to get a confession, to be routine.
On top of this, there are “disturbing” claims that Sullivan was initially denied legal representation and the support of an “appropriate adult” to act in his best interests, as he was a person of “limited intellectual capacity”.
A 2019 appeal directly to the High Court by Sullivan was backed by a leading forensic dentists that cast serious doubts over the “reliability” of the bite mark evidence used.
It also called on a consultant psychologist that highlighted Sullivan’s “limited intellectual capacity and suggestibility”, which gave rise to concerns that he could have been forced into his confession during police interviews.
While this was rejected by the Court of Appeal on the basis that the bite marks evidence was “not central to his conviction”, the CCRC has now said this evidence may be crucial.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Now, the Court of Appeal has the power to quash Sullivan’s conviction and potentially end his near four decades of prison-time.
While he waits for his case to be heard, Merseyside Police has said it has reopened its investigation into the “Beast of Birkenhead”, with some of the original witnesses in the case being re-interviewed.
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