Peter Sullivan Cleared in UK's Longest Miscarriage

Peter Sullivan, who spent 38 years in prison for the 1986 rape and murder of Diane Sindall in Merseyside, has had his conviction quashed by the UK Court of Appeal, in what is believed to be the country's longest-running miscarriage of justice. New DNA evidence, unavailable during the original trial, showed that biological samples from the crime scene did not match Sullivan, but instead pointed to an unidentified male. Sullivan, who was 29 at the time of the crime and consistently maintained his innocence, had been convicted based on a retracted confession, disputed bite mark evidence, and circumstantial evidence. Multiple previous attempts to appeal his conviction were unsuccessful until the Criminal Cases Review Commission's recent intervention. Merseyside Police have reopened the investigation and are collecting new DNA samples from those connected to the original case. The case highlights serious concerns about past investigative practices and the use of forensic evidence in criminal trials.