‘Real identity of Diane Sindall killer was known on Birkenhead estates’

The real identity of the man who brutally murdered Diane Sindall was known by people on the estates in Birkenhead, a charity set up in her memory has claimed.

Peter Sullivan, now 68, was acquitted of her murder at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday thanks to new DNA evidence after spending almost 40 years in prison.

RASA Merseyside was set up to help victims of sexual violence after the 21-year-old was beaten to death in August 1986 as she walked home from a shift behind the bar at a Bebington pub.

Josephine Wood from the charity told the BBC they had been approached by several local people who told them police had the wrong man, but they would not reveal the identity to detectives.

These people did not share the name of the man they suspected was the real killer, and were unwilling to come forward as sources to help the investigation.

“I know that we were approached on occasions by people who felt they could come to us and talk to us because we’d been set up almost in memory to Diane and as a tribute to her,” Ms Wood said.

“We were told on several occasions that the police had the wrong man.

“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 some deprived areas around Birkenhead at the time had “tribal” and “tight-knit” communities that made it difficult for people to come forward.

“If something had happened in that estate it would be really hard for someone to actually come forward and say ‘we know who this is’, for fear of repercussions, for fear of what might happen,” she said.

“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’.

“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.”

After Mr Sullivan’s acquittal, Merseyside Police issued an urgent appeal for anyone who had any suspicions about someone they believed could have committed the crime in 1986 to get in touch.

Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill, head of investigations at the force, told the BBC she wanted the communities of Birkenhead to “try and reflect on any individuals that you weren’t happy with at the time”.

“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,” she said.

“My ask would be please contact us, regardless of how insignificant you think the information is, and let us judge where that fits into our investigation.”

Det Ch Supt Jaundrill said the force had been notified in 2023 that a new DNA profile had been extracted from semen samples preserved from the crime scene.

More than 260 men identified as part of the original investigation had been tested and eliminated as potential suspects.

Mr Sullivan’s solicitor, Sarah Myatt, previously told the BBC that Mr Sullivan had “never lost hope” that he would be acquitted.

She said he continued to maintain his innocence despite the fact he would have had a much stronger case to be freed on licence if he had told the parole board he accepted what he had done.

Ms Myatt added: “He said ‘I cannot admit to something I haven’t done’, even though that meant that the parole board would consider things in that way.”

Both the Crown Prosecution Service and Merseyside Police said they appreciated the impact of the miscarriage of justice on Mr Sullivan, but said the technology to get a DNA profile from samples like the ones recovered did not exist until very recently.

The government runs a compensation scheme for victims of miscarriages of justice, which is capped at a maximum of £1m for those who spent more than 10 years in prison.

The Miscarriage of Justice Compensation Scheme is separate to any civil legal action that could be brought against any public authority.

Ms Myatt, from law firm Switalskis, said she and her colleagues would support any compensation claim Mr Sullivan wished to bring.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the grave impact miscarriages of justice have and are committed to supporting individuals in rebuilding their lives.

“We are actively considering options to ensure any compensation properly supports people and will set out next steps in due course.”