This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/13/peter-sullivan-jail-murder-conviction-quashed-diane-sindall

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail for murder, has conviction quashed Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail for murder, has conviction quashed
(31 minutes later)
Sullivan is believed to be UK’s longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice after his jailing for murder of Diane SindallSullivan is believed to be UK’s longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice after his jailing for murder of Diane Sindall
A man who has spent 38 years in prison for the murder of a woman in 1986 has had his conviction quashed at the court of appeal. 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.
Peter Sullivan, who was 30 when he was sentenced and is now 68, is believed to be the UK’s longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice after three senior judges quashed his conviction for the killing, 17 years after his first attempt to have it overturned. Peter Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of a florist, Diane Sindall, 21, who worked part time in a bar and was killed as she left work in Bebington, Merseyside.
Diane Sindall, a 21-year-old barmaid, was found dead in Bebington, Merseyside, in August 1986, with Sullivan arrested the following month and convicted in November 1987. He has remained behind bars despite being given a minimum term of 16 years. It was alleged that in August 1986 Sullivan had spent the day drinking heavily after losing a darts match and went out armed with a crowbar before a chance encounter with Sindall.
He first tried to challenge his conviction in 2008, with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) declining to refer the case to the court of appeal, before he lost his own appeal attempt in 2019. Her florist van had broken down on her way home from a pub shift and she was walking to a petrol station when she was beaten to death and sexually assaulted. Her body was left partly clothed and mutilated.
He again asked the CCRC to refer his case in 2021, and the commission found that DNA samples taken from the scene did not match Sullivan. Sullivan has always protested his innocence and lawyers have tried twice before to get his conviction overturned.
At a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for Sullivan told the court of appeal in London that the new evidence showed that Sindall’s killer “was not the defendant”. New tests ordered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) have revealed that Sullivan’s DNA was not present on samples preserved at the time.
Barristers for the Crown Prosecution Service told the court that there was “no credible basis on which the appeal can be opposed” related to the DNA evidence, as it was “sufficient fundamentally to cast doubt on the safety of the conviction”. Duncan Atkinson KC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court of appeal that analysis of the DNA showed it came from someone known as “unknown male one”, and that it was “one billion times more likely that the sample originated from unknown male one, rather than someone else, and it did not match the appellant”.
Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, quashed the conviction, stating they had “no doubt that it is both necessary and expedient in the interests of justice” to accept the new DNA evidence. He said: “Had this DNA evidence been available at the time a decision was taken to prosecute, it is difficult to see how a decision to prosecute could have been made.”
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.”He said: “In the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellant’s conviction as safe.”
Sullivan, who attended the hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield, listened to the ruling with his head down and arms folded, and appeared to weep and put his hand to his mouth as his conviction was quashed.Sullivan, who attended the hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield, listened to the ruling with his head down and arms folded, and appeared to weep and put his hand to his mouth as his conviction was quashed.
A relative in court wept as the judgment was read out. A relative in court wept as the judgment was read out, with one woman emotionally declaring: “We’ve done it”.
Speaking after the ruling, Merseyside police said vital DNA evidence had not been available during the original investigation into Sullivan and that officers were now “committed to doing everything” to find the person whose DNA was left at the scene where Sindall died. Merseyside police said the crucial DNA evidence was not available during the original investigation and officers were now “committed to doing everything” to find the person whose DNA was left at the scene where Diane Sindall died.
DCS 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. Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill said that more than 260 men had been screened and eliminated from the investigation since it was reopened in 2023.
“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. She 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.
“We can confirm that the DNA does not belong to any member of Diane’s family, nor Diane’s fiance at the time, and we believe it could be a vital piece of evidence linking the killer to the scene. “Unfortunately, there is no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database.
“Diane’s murder sent shock waves through Birkenhead when it happened and I would appeal to anyone who lived in the area at the time, and has any information which could help us with our inquiries, to come forward. “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.”
“We believe there are people who have information, or suspicions, about the murder of Diane in 1986 and I would appeal to those people to come forward, as the information they have could be key to finding who the DNA belongs to.” Holroyde said a decision made by the CCRC in 2008 that scientific techniques at the time would not yield a DNA profile was “plainly correct”.
He said: “The brutal attack which ended Miss Sindall’s young life also blighted the lives of her fiancee, her family and all those who loved her. We offer our condolences to the bereaved.”
James Burley, who led the investigation by the charity Appeal into the case of Andrew Malkinson, said: “Peter Sullivan’s exoneration today after nearly four decades of wrongful imprisonment provides further evidence that our current appeals system cannot be trusted to swiftly identify and rectify miscarriages of justice.
“Between them, Peter Sullivan, Andrew Malkinson and Victor Nealon spent over 70 years wrongly imprisoned before finally being exonerated by compelling DNA evidence.
“Each had their cases previously rejected by both the court of ppeal and the CCRC – the institutions which are meant to act as our justice system’s safety net. The case for an urgent overhaul of the appeals system is now overwhelming.”