Peter Sullivan Compensation: Could He Get £20,000? Experts Weigh In
Peter Sullivan, who walked free in May after spending an unimaginable 38 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit, now faces another long and uncertain journey. The 68 year old has been recognised as the victim of one of Britain’s most shocking miscarriages of justice.
He was jailed in 1987 for the murder of 21 year old Diane Sindall in Birkenhead, a conviction that collapsed earlier this year when preserved forensic samples were retested and revealed a DNA profile belonging to an unknown man.
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With his name cleared and the state now acknowledging the catastrophic failure that stole nearly four decades of his life, the question remains, will Peter Sullivan receive financial compensation, and if so, how much?
Has he received any compensation yet
No. Despite the scale of the injustice, not a single payment has been made so far.
Sullivan’s solicitor of more than twenty years, Sarah Myatt, confirmed the process is only just beginning and warned that the road ahead will be slow.
“It is a long process,” she said. “We are helping him with that and representing him in terms of his application. How long that will take, I just do not know at this stage. But it is certainly not a quick process.”
Who pays compensation in cases like this
Compensation for wrongful imprisonment in England and Wales is handled through a statutory government scheme operated by the Ministry of Justice.
Under the scheme, the maximum payout for people who have been wrongly imprisoned for more than ten years is capped at £1.3 million, a slight increase from the previous £1 million limit. For those jailed for less than a decade, the cap is £650,000.
This upper limit applies no matter how severe the injustice or how many years of freedom were lost.
How much could Peter Sullivan receive
It remains impossible to calculate an exact figure at this stage, and his legal team has not yet received any indication from the Ministry of Justice.
Ms Myatt said no amount of money could ever come close to compensating Sullivan for losing 38 years of his life.
“There is not a figure you could say that would be enough,” she said. “It just will not be. Thirty eight years cannot be replaced. But no, we certainly do not know at this stage what he will receive.”
Comparisons with the case of Andrew Malkinson
The debate around compensation has intensified following the high profile case of Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. After his release, he publicly condemned the government’s compensation limits as “insulting” and has continued to campaign for major reform of the system.
Malkinson faced long delays and numerous bureaucratic hurdles before receiving an initial payment earlier this year. The exact amount was not disclosed, although reports suggest he received a significant six figure settlement.
He has pledged to keep fighting until the cap is abolished and until more people who were wrongfully convicted are able to access fair compensation.
A long wait for justice
For Peter Sullivan, the fight is far from over. His conviction has been overturned, his innocence has been recognised, and the truth about his case has finally been acknowledged. Yet the battle to receive compensation, and the battle to rebuild a life taken from him for almost four decades, is still only beginning.
