A man who has spent 38 years in prison for a 1986 murder he didn't commit could be in line for a £1million payout after his conviction was quashed at the Court of Appeal. Peter Sullivan, who was 30 when he was sentenced and is now 68, is believed to be the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in British history.

On Tuesday, Mr Sullivan wept as three senior judges quashed his conviction for the killing, 17 years after his first attempt to have it overturned. Diane Sindall, a 21-year-old barmaid, was found dead in an alleyway after she was beaten and raped in Bebington, Merseyside, in August 1986. Miss Sindall, who had recently become engaged, had just finished her shift as a part-time barmaid at a pub in Bebington when her small blue van ran out of petrol. As she walked towards an all-night garage, she was attacked.

Mr Sullivan, described by police at the time as "a quiet loner", was arrested the following month and convicted in November 1987.

Mr Sullivan has always maintained his innocence, and new tests ordered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission revealed that DNA samples taken from the scene did not match him.

He first tried to challenge his conviction in 2008, but the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) declined to refer the case to the Court of Appeal before he lost his own appeal bid in 2019.

Quashing the conviction, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, said they had "no doubt that it is both necessary and expedient in the interests of justice" to accept the new DNA evidence.

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

But despite being exonerated by DNA evidence, Mr Sullivan now has to prove his innocence "beyond a reasonable doubt" to justice secretary Shabana Mahmood if he wants to get a payout from the government, which are capped at £1million, reports The Independent.

The Ministry of Justice said: "Peter Sullivan suffered a grave miscarriage of justice, and our thoughts are with him and the family of Diane Sindall. We will carefully consider this judgment, looking at how this could have happened and making sure both Mr Sullivan and Diane's family get the answers they deserve."

Mr Sullivan's wrongful conviction means Ms Sindall's attacker could still be at large. Merseyside police confirmed that 260 men have been eliminated from their inquiry since it was reopened in 2023 and that none of Miss Sindall's loved ones are implicated.

Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill said: "Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Diane Sindall who continue to mourn her loss and will have to endure the implications of this new development so many years after her murder.

"We are committed to doing everything within our power to find whom the DNA, which was left at the scene, belongs to. Unfortunately, there is no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database.

"We have enlisted specialist skills and expertise from the National Crime Agency, and with their support we are proactively trying to identify the person the DNA profile belongs to, and extensive and painstaking inquiries are under way."

In a statement read by his lawyer, Mr Sullivan described wrongfully spending 38 years in prison as “very wrong” but said he was “not angry, I’m not bitter”.

He said: “I lost my liberty four decades ago over a crime I did not commit. We now know how very different the times we live in are from scientific advances, legal practice and methods of investigation and questioning by the police.

“What happened to me was very wrong but it does not detract or minimise that all of this happened off the back of a heinous and most terrible loss of life.

“I did not commit murder or unlawfully take the life of any person throughout the span of my own. As god is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free.

“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.”