BBC Information
BBC Information, Liverpool
Merseyside PoliceA person who has served 38 years in jail for the homicide of a girl has had his conviction quashed by the Courtroom of Enchantment after new DNA proof emerged.
Peter Sullivan was jailed over the 1986 killing of 21-year-old barmaid Diane Sindall, who was subjected to a frenzied sexual assault in Birkenhead, Merseyside, as she walked house from a shift.
The Felony Instances Evaluation Fee (CCRC) – the statutory physique set as much as examine potential miscarriages of justice – had referred Mr Sullivan’s case again to the attraction courtroom final yr after contemporary testing discovered a DNA profile pointing to an unknown attacker in semen samples preserved from the crime scene.
Mr Sullivan, showing on video-link from HMP Wakefield, sobbed and held his hand over his mouth as he was advised he could be launched.
Now aged 68, he’s believed to be the sufferer of the longest miscarriage of justice involving a dwelling prisoner in British authorized historical past.
Duncan Atkinson KC, representing the Crown Prosecution Service, had mentioned the service agreed the DNA proof undermined Mr Sullivan’s conviction and there could be no software to hunt a retrial.
Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan on the Royal Courts of Justice in London, quashed the conviction and mentioned they’d “little question that it’s each essential and expedient within the pursuits of justice” to confess the brand new DNA proof.
He mentioned: “Within the mild of that proof, it’s unattainable to treat the appellant’s conviction as protected.”
Lord Holroyde mentioned accidents to the sufferer “plainly did level to a sexual side of the assault on Miss Sindall” and the “inference was very sturdy” that the semen had been left by the true killer.
He continued: “There isn’t a proof to recommend multiple man was concerned within the homicide, and no proof to recommend semen might have deposited within the technique of consensual sexual exercise.”
The courtroom heard know-how had solely very just lately been developed to the purpose the place the semen pattern, recovered from Miss Sindall’s stomach, might be examined for DNA.
The listening to was advised the DNA profile was not a match for Miss Sindall’s fiancé on the time, whereas cross-contamination from the forensic investigator who collected the semen samples had been dominated out.
Merseyside Police has since re-opened its investigation into Miss Sindall’s homicide however the power mentioned searches of the nationwide DNA database had not give you any matches.
Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill mentioned greater than 260 males have been screened and eradicated from the renewed investigation since 2023.
“We have now enlisted specialist abilities and experience from the Nationwide Crime Company, and with their assist we’re proactively attempting to determine the individual the DNA profile belongs to, and intensive and painstaking inquiries are underway,” she mentioned.
“We are able to verify that the DNA doesn’t belong to any member of Diane’s household, nor Diane’s fiancé on the time, and we consider it might be a significant piece of proof linking the killer to the scene.”
