Latest news with #BeastOfBirkenhead
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Daily Mail
DOMINIC LAWSON: Just as innocent men are coerced by police into confessions, so I fear the vulnerable will be pushed into assisted dying under this seriously flawed Bill
There seemed something horribly familiar about the case of Peter Sullivan. The man hitherto known as 'the Beast of Birkenhead' was released last week after serving 38 years in prison for the savage sexual attack and murder of a barmaid called Diane Sindall – after DNA evidence very belatedly confirmed that another (unknown) man must have been the killer. At the time – this happened in 1986 – Sullivan had been described as 'not the full shilling' and a 'village idiot'. Nowadays, we would say he had learning disabilities. Anyway, he had had convictions for petty theft, and was seen loitering in the area of the murder, carrying a crowbar.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Real killer of Diane Sindall 'was KNOWN' after arrest of Peter Sullivan but locals refused to tell police -leading man wrongly branded Beast of Birkenhead to serve 38 years for murder he didn't commit
The real identity of the 'Beast of Birkenhead' who brutally murdered Diane Sindall was known to residents of local estates, according to a charity set up in her memory. But no-one from the 'tribal' and 'tight-knit' communities was willing to come forward and name the killer to police 'for fear of repercussions', staff said today. As a result, Peter Sullivan spent 38 years behind bars before his conviction for beating the 21-year-old to death in 1986 was quashed by the Court of Appeal earlier this week. Police have now reopened their investigation into the florist's murder, which caused shock and revulsion across the Wirral and beyond. However they say there is no match on the national database for the newly-analysed DNA recovered from the scene which led to 68-year-old Mr Sullivan's name being cleared. RASA Merseyside – short for rape and sexual abuse support – was set up after Ms Sindall's killing to help victims of sexual violence. Now Josephine Wood from the charity has told the BBC it was approached by several local people who told them police had the wrong man. However they would not reveal the true identity of her killer to detectives, she added. 'We were told on several occasions that the police had the wrong man,' she said. 'But we didn't have evidence, we didn't have anything to offer, we just knew what we'd been told and the people are adamant that you've got the wrong person. 'But without any evidence, without names, without people willing to come forward which is a really big deal, seriously what could be done?' Ms Wood said communities in deprived areas around Birkenhead were 'tribal' and 'tight-knit' in the 1980s, making it difficult for people to come forward. She told the broadcaster that it would be 'really hard' for someone to tell police 'we know who this is' due to the fear of 'repercussions' and 'what might happen'. 'I would like to think that maybe 40 years down the line we can actually now go back to those people and say 'Come on tell us what you know',' she added. 'Tell us what happened, you must feel safer now, you must feel a way that you can come forward, because if this guy hasn't done it somebody else has and we need to find out who that was.' Former labourer Mr Sullivan was released from Category A Wakefield Prison on Tuesday after finally being exonerated following years of campaigning. Lawyers have said it was 'completely inappropriate' that the maximum payout the 68-year-old can receive for his decades behind bars and wrongly being dubbed the Beast of Birkenhead stands at £1million. Yesterday his brother David told MailOnline: 'We are absolutely ecstatic that Peter has been freed but we knew 1000 per cent from the start that he was an innocent man.' Miss Sindall's van had broken down on her way home from a pub shift and she was walking to a petrol station to get some more fuel. She had been working late to pay for her forthcoming wedding to David Beattie. She was ambushed, sexually assaulted and then beaten to death, her body left partially clothed and mutilated in an alleyway where it was discovered the following day. Mr Sullivan's case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission after samples taken at the time of the murder were re-examined and produced a DNA profile that did not match his. Mr Sullivan – who has learning difficulties - initially confessed to the murder, before retracting the claims. Merseyside Police say they are 'proactively trying to identify the person the DNA profile belongs to', saying they believe it 'could be a vital piece of evidence linking the killer to the scene'. The DNA does not belong to any member of Diane's family, nor her fiancé at the time or hundreds of other men identified during the original investigation, the force has said. Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill, head of investigations at Merseyside Police, told the BBC she wanted people in Birkenhead to 'try and reflect on any individuals that you weren't happy with at the time'. Appealing for anyone to contact them 'regardless of how insignificant you think the information is', she added: 'It may be that somebody has passed away and you weren't happy with their behaviour at the time and you think they were linked.'
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Telegraph
Man cleared of murder after serving 38 years in jail
A man who has served almost 40 years in prison for murder is set to be freed after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction. Peter Sullivan, 68, who has always protested his innocence, was found guilty in 1987 of the murder of Diane Sindall who was killed on her way home from work in Merseyside. His case was referred to the Court of Appeal after fresh DNA evidence came to light casting doubt on his involvement. It is believed to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice affecting a living prisoner in UK history. Sindall, a 21-year-old bride-to-be and florist from the Wirral, had run out of petrol while driving home and is understood to have decided to walk to the nearest garage to fill up a jerrycan. She was then set upon, sexually assaulted and beaten to death in an alley. She was left with injuries that Merseyside Police detectives described at the time as the worst they had ever seen. Mr Sullivan was dubbed the 'Beast of Birkenhead' or the 'wolfman' after the killing following the discovery of bite marks on the victim's body. Some of Sindall's belongings were later found burnt in woodland on Bidston Hill, about five miles away. Mr Sullivan, who was described as a 'quiet loner', was arrested and repeatedly interviewed without having a solicitor present. He initially made a confession but later retracted it. On the night of the murder, Mr Sullivan, an unemployed labourer from Birkenhead, had been playing darts at a local pub and drinking heavily. At his sentencing, the trial judge described it as a 'crime of considerable abomination and outrage'. But there were questions over the way Merseyside detectives had questioned Mr Sullivan during interviews amid claims the Police and Criminal Evidence Act had not been followed. Mr Sullivan first raised his case with the Criminal Cases Review Commission - the body set up to look for potential miscarriages of justice - in 2008 but was rejected. He applied again in 2021 after new forensics work discovered the DNA of an unknown man at the scene. Experts believe it originated from traces of semen that had been recovered from the crime scene and stored. Merseyside Police reopened the case but the sample did not match any stored on the national DNA database used by police. Mr Sullivan watched proceedings via videolink from HMP Wakefield, where he is currently held. As the judgment was handed down by Mr Justice Holroyde and his conviction was formally quashed Mr Sullivan could be seen holding his hand to his mouth and appearing tearful. In court members of the public embraced and one woman tearfully said 'we've done it' . The court was told that Mr Sullivan must now be released from custody. The Crown Prosecution Service had earlier indicated it would not seek a retrial.
