Man who has served 35 years in prison for murder to have conviction re-examined

A man who has served more than 35 years in prison for the murder of a woman who was beaten to death when she ran out of petrol has had his conviction referred to the Court of Appeal. Diane Sindall was killed in August 1986 after she left work in Bebington and Peter Sullivan was convicted of her murder the following year.

On the night in question - Friday, August 1, 1986 - the unemployed dad-of-one had earlier been playing for the darts team at the Crown Hotel in Conway Street. It was said he was drinking heavily after his team lost and he left the pub at around 11.30pm, staggering back to his maisonette in nearby Queensbury Gardens.

There, for reasons unknown, he armed himself with a two-foot-long iron crowbar he had borrowed, stuffed it inside his jacket, went back out again and wandered off in the direction of nearby Borough Road.

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It was here that the fateful chance encounter with Diane Sindall took place. The 21-year-old florist was on her way home from her part-time job as a barmaid at a pub in Bebington, when her blue Fiat van ran out of petrol and she got out to get some from a nearby 24-hour garage.

On Wednesday, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said that Sullivan’s conviction had been referred to the Court of Appeal on the basis of DNA evidence. Samples taken at the time of the murder were re-examined and a DNA profile that did not match Sullivan was found, the commission said.

Sullivan applied to the body to have his case re-examined in 2021, raising concerns about police interviews, bite mark evidence and the murder weapon. He claimed he had not been provided with an appropriate adult during interviews and was initially denied legal representation.

Sullivan had previously applied to the CCRC in 2008 raising questions about DNA evidence, but forensic experts said that further testing was unlikely to reveal a DNA profile. He applied to the High Court for permission to appeal against his conviction in 2019 over bite mark evidence, but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2021.