A man who spent nearly four decades in a British prison in the killing of a barmaid said he was not angry or bitter Tuesday as his murder conviction was overturned and he was released after being exonerated by DNA evidence.
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Peter Sullivan put his hand over his mouth and wept as the Court of Appeal in London quashed his conviction and ordered his freedom after he had spent years fighting to prove his innocence.
Sullivan, who watched the hearing by video from Wakefield prison in northern England, said through his lawyer that he was not resentful and was anxious to see his loved ones.
“As god is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free,” lawyer Sarah Myatt read from a statement outside court. “It is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale as we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me. I am not angry, I am not bitter.”
He was the longest-serving victim of a wrongful conviction in the UK, Myatt said.
Sullivan, 68, was convicted in 1987 of killing Diane Sindall in Bebington, near Liverpool in northwest England. He was behind bars for 38 years.