For someone who’s lost nearly 40 years of his life because of a crime he didn’t commit, Peter Sullivan strikes a remarkably optimistic tone. When I met him last month, for what was his first interview since being released from prison in May, he was upbeat and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch […]
A serial sex attacker has been convicted of rape and murder in what is believed to be the longest running cold case in UK history. Ryland Headley, 92, is thought to be the oldest person to be convicted of murder in the country, after he was found guilty of killing Louisa Dunne in 1967. Headley […]
The judge jailing Peter Sullivan in 1987 said that the sadistic murder of Diane Sindall was “an abomination and an outrage”. Judge Ernest Sanderson Temple, the Recorder of Liverpool, then commended Detective Superintendent Thomas Baxter, one of two officers who led the investigation. Outside court Sindall’s father, Brian, said: “[Sullivan] has never shown one sign […]
Peter Sullivan is free. His conviction has been quashed — after spending 38 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. As Editor of The Prisons Handbook for England and Wales, I’ve spent years scrutinising our criminal justice and prison systems. But some cases still have the power to stun. This is one […]
A man who has served 38 years in prison for the murder of a woman has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal after new DNA evidence emerged. Peter Sullivan was jailed over the 1986 killing of 21-year-old barmaid Diane Sindall, who was subjected to a frenzied sexual attack in Birkenhead, Merseyside, as […]
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Tesco has armed its staff with DNA testing kits to help police trace abusive customers and shoplifters who spit at them as part of a drive to clamp down on assaults on staff. Britain’s biggest supermarket is understood to have provided its delivery drivers with so-called ‘spit kits’ to collect samples to help track down […]
Double murderer Colin Pitchfork has won a fresh parole hearing after successfully challenging a decision to refuse him parole. Pitchfork was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years in 1988, later reduced to 28 years, for two murders in 1983 and 1986 respectively. The Parole Board met last year – see below […]
An innocent man who spent 17 years in jail for rape condemned Greater Manchester Police for unlawfully concealing and destroying evidence after his conviction was quashed because DNA has identified another suspect. Andrew Malkinson, 57, was convicted of attacking a young mother left for dead in July 2003 and became one of Britain’s longest-serving victims […]
Double child killer and rapist Colin Pitchfork has been granted parole and will be released from prison. Pitchfork was jailed for life for raping and strangling two 15-year-old girls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986. The 63-year-old was released in 2021, before being arrested and sent back to prison two months later. Following […]
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The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred a man’s rape and assault convictions to the Court of Appeal after new DNA testing has revealed a potential alternative suspect. Andrew Malkinson was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of rape in 2004. After spending 17 years in custody, he was released from prison in December […]