A convicted murderer known as ‘The Wolfman’ who has served nearly 40 years in prison after a bride-to-be was beaten to death could get a retrial after his conviction was referred to the Court of Appeal.
Diane Sindall, 21, was killed with a crowbar after she ran out of petrol when she left her part-time job as a barmaid in Bebington, Merseyside in August 1986.
The next year, during one of the largest manhunts in the region’s history, Peter Sullivan was found guilty of her murder.
Although the authorities never disclosed the florist’s horrifying injuries, Sullivan was convicted based on bite marks on her corpse that matched his dental records, earning him a monstrous reputation.
According to the Liverpool Echo, the jobless father of one had spent the day drinking excessively after losing a game of darts at the Crown Hotel. He then happened to run across Ms Sindall as she was walking to a gas station after her blue Fiat van ran out of petrol.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said on Wednesday that the Court of Appeal had been tasked with reviewing Sullivan’s conviction due to DNA evidence.
In a statement, the CCRC told The Mirror: ‘Mr Sullivan applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in March 2021 raising concerns about his interviews by the police, bitemark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon.
‘After consulting experts, the CCRC obtained DNA information from samples taken at the time of the offence.
‘As a result, a DNA profile was obtained which did not match Mr Sullivan. The CCRC has now sent Mr Sullivan’s conviction back to the courts.’
According to the inquiry, a DNA profile that did not match Sullivan was discovered when samples collected at the scene of the crime were re-examined.
In 2021, Sullivan requested that his case be re-examined, citing issues with the murder weapon, bite mark evidence, and police interviews.
He claimed he had not been provided with an appropriate adult during interviews.
The CCRC added that there was evidence suggesting there were breaches in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 over police interviews, as he was not given an appropriate adult and was initially denied legal representation.
Although forensic specialists stated that additional testing was unlikely to provide a DNA profile, Sullivan had previously applied to the CCRC in 2008, raising concerns regarding DNA evidence.
He requested permission from the High Court to appeal his 2019 conviction due to bite mark evidence, but the Court of Appeal denied his request in 2021.
At the time of his trial, a scientist specialising in teeth told the jury that his teeth marks were as unique as a fingerprint.
In September 1987, the Liverpool Echo reported Prosecutor Mr Andrew Rankin QC said: ‘The defendant caused those bite marks -he murdered Diane Sindall beyond argument. That is how important the evidence of bite marks is.
‘This is the critical part of the case – so critical that, in my submission, you can forget the rest of the case.’
He told Liverpool Crown Court that Sullivan had teeth which matched all the features found on Ms Sindall’s right breast.
Sullivan had a history of petty convictions and confessed, before retracting his plea. He was convicted in November 1987.
He said he didn’t have an appropriate adult at the interview, and bite marks are not conclusive evidence on their own, but DNA is, and the question is, if it doesn’t match why wasn’t he released?
If he is now saying he did not have an appropriate adult, was he mentally disabled in some way? And why was he not appointed a solicitor before they interviewed him?
The thing is when an expert comes in and says something, another expert normally comes along to say they are wrong. This type of evidence is based on an expert opinion rather than science, which is rather unreliable in court.
In 1986-7 there was DNA testing. In 1986 DNA evidence was first used in the criminal case of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, and then in 1987 DNA profiling was used to convict Colin Pitchfork for the murders of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth – why was it not used in the case of Peter Sullivan?
If there is the slightest doubt the conviction should be revisited, especially given it was at a time when rules were frequently bent, and the authorities often stitched up innocent people because they were lazy, incompetent and bad at their job. Or both!
The source of this DNA sample is left unstated.
Bite marks are very rarely uniform or neat and overall they’re an inconsistent way to measure or collect evidence. However, DNA never lies.
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, a fantastic book by Radley Balko, explores the history of bite mark analysis and offers an engrossing and terrifying look at the science of bite marks and several other forensics that aren’t as accurate as frequently claimed.
Bite mark evidence is largely considered weak these days. In studies involving blind testing, experts often couldn’t even establish correctly if the bite was human or animal in nature.
The British legal system is comparable to a cartel. Until it is redesigned, it will continue to condemn innocent individuals, and some police don’t care who they convict as long as they get to convict someone, with lots of back-slapping because they got a good result.
Ah, the good old British justice system at its finest. Just like the Birmingham six and the Guildford four. A rush to find anybody responsible for atrocities to appease the media and calm the public.
If he is guilty then he’s in the right place, but if it’s proven that he’s innocent, then 40 years behind bars is unforgivable.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 