Peter Sullivan spent 38 years of his life in prison for a murder he did not commit — a staggering injustice that has now become one of the most shocking wrongful conviction cases in modern British history. At 68 years old, Sullivan has finally been cleared, and in his first public statements, he detailed horrifying claims about how police forced him into confessing.

“They beat me under a blanket”

Sullivan says that during his 1987 interrogation, Merseyside police officers violently assaulted him using truncheons:

“They threw a blanket over me and hit me with truncheons to make me cooperate.”

He alleges the beating was so severe he feared he would not survive the night.

Threats, intimidation, and no legal protection

According to Sullivan, the violence was only part of the pressure. He says police:

threatened to accuse him of up to 35 unrelated sexual assaults if he refused to confess,

denied him sleep and food,

failed to provide a legally required “appropriate adult” even though he had documented learning difficulties,

conducted his first so-called “confession” with no lawyer present, and

failed to record that first interview — a major breach of procedure even for the 1980s.

Although Sullivan withdrew his confession once he finally saw a lawyer, the damage was done. The court still used the statement against him, supported by what was then considered bite-mark forensic evidence — a method now widely discredited.

DNA blows the case open

In 2025, new DNA testing was performed on original evidence from the scene. The results were clear:

Peter Sullivan’s DNA was not present,

and key samples matched an unidentified male, not Sullivan.

The Court of Appeal ruled his conviction “unsafe,” overturning it after almost four decades. Merseyside Police subsequently reopened the investigation to identify the real perpetrator.

A life destroyed

For Sullivan, the overturning of his conviction comes with deep grief alongside relief.

He missed thousands of days of freedom.
He missed milestones.
He lost family members — including his mother, whose funeral he was not allowed to attend.

He said the experience left him with “a burden that will never leave.”

A fight for accountability

While Merseyside Police expressed “regret” for the failures in the original case, they deny prior knowledge of assault allegations during the investigation. Sullivan is calling for:

a public apology,

full accountability from those involved in his interrogation,

and justice for others who may have been coerced in similar ways.

For him, this is not just about clearing his name — it’s about exposing the brutality and pressure that defined old policing practices and ruined countless lives.

The question now

How many other people were forced into confessions like Sullivan — and how many of them are still behind bars?