Man in jail for nearly four decades for murder acquitted by London court

By Muvija M

LONDON (Reuters) - A man who has spent nearly 40 years in jail for murder had his conviction overturned by a London court on Tuesday after advancements in DNA testing techniques cast doubt on his guilt.

Peter Sullivan, believed to be the victim of the longest miscarriage of justice in Britain, was sentenced to life in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, who was found dead after leaving her place of work in the northwest England town of Bebington, close to Liverpool, the previous year.

He applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission - an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice - in 2021, raising concerns about his police interviews, bite-mark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon, the commission said in a statement.

The commission then obtained DNA information from samples taken at the time of the offence and found that the profile did not match that of Sullivan. His case was then sent to London's Court of Appeal, which quashed the conviction on Tuesday based on the new evidence.

"This is an unprecedented and historic moment. Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK," his lawyer told reporters outside the court.

Reading a message from Sullivan, the lawyer said: "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."

Sullivan had applied to the CCRC questioning DNA evidence in 2008, but forensic experts advised at the time that any further testing would be very unlikely to produce a DNA profile.

The techniques used in the testing that led to his case being referred were not available at the time of his first application, the CCRC said.

Merseyside Police, which reopened the investigation in 2023, said there was no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database, adding that they were committed to doing "everything within our power" to find to whom it belonged.

"The truth shall set you free ... As we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter," Sullivan said in his message.

(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Mark Potter)