Posted on 05/13/2025 3:15:27 PM PDT by Cronos
A British man who served 38 years in prison for murder had his conviction overturned on Tuesday after forensic evidence from the crime scene was tested and found not to match his DNA.
Mr. Sullivan was imprisoned after the killing in August 1986 of Diane Sindall, 21, who suffered a frenzied sexual attack in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, as she made her way home from a pub where she also worked.
After DNA evidence was presented in the case, the Court of Appeal overturned Mr. Sullivan’s conviction.
...Ms. Sindall, who was a florist and was engaged to be married, was attacked while walking to a gas station in Bebington, Merseyside, after her van broke down just after midnight.
Twelve hours later, Ms. Sindall’s body was discovered by a member of the public in an alleyway with extensive injuries. The cause of death was established as a cerebral hemorrhage following multiple blows.
The hunt for her killer gained nationwide attention and, because of the brutality of the assault, tabloid newspapers referred to Mr. Sullivan after his conviction as the “Beast of Birkenhead.”
Mr. Sullivan applied in 2008 for his case to be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, but his application was rejected. He applied for permission to appeal in 2019, but that, too, was turned down.
After another application was lodged in 2021, the commission decided that, because of technological advances, it was worth testing the semen samples preserved from the crime scene in 1986. They did not match Mr. Sullivan’s DNA.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It’s probably happened more than we think or want to believe.
Imagine essentially losing your whole life for a crime you didn’t commit.
It’s behind a paywall, how did they decide he was the killer back then?
Thank God they didn’t have a death penalty.
Before DNA, a lot of convictions were based off questionable eyewitness memory testimony and if they thought you were a bad person who might have done it.
It is understandable that juries sometimes convict the wrong person; it is not supposed to happen but it does.
The hardest part is the suggestion that authorities were slow to use new technology to test the verdict. That is not reasonable.
it wouldn’t be the first time if it happened. thankfully God deals with the guilty party and in His way He makes right of the wrongs done.
So, the DNA tech is now good enough to exonerate him. Is it good enough to identify the real killer?
“ Horrifying that he could have been executed”
This is why I am only in favor of the death penalty for someone who is convicted of murder with unimpeachable evidence, and then commits murder again while they are incarcerated. Taking the death penalty completely off the table makes murdering in jail more likely to happen again.
Now that the technology has evolved, it should be used at every opportunity to exonerate the innocent. Its use should be codified into law so that its use isn't at the discretion of Barney Fife.
DNA works so well now that they were able to tell us about 6000 year old Otzi the Icd Man.
If that had been me then there isn’t enough money in the Universe to repay for my hardship in prison.
From this article, I think he did it.
The killer took her pants, panties and shoes with him. Two weeks later they were found in an area he was in, burned. A witness who knew him said he was the one who burned the items. Cops found a crowbar at his house and he even confessed. He said he only asked her for the time, and doesn’t know why he lashed out and hit her with a brick. Also he is “learning disabled” and had a pregnant woman at home... probably not getting any.
As far as the semen tested not being his, yeah she was engaged, but it’s easy to imagine she had sex with someone, and he killed her a few hours after. Probably not the killer’s semen.
I think he did it and this is another “Making of a Murderer” kind of “exoneration”.
The judges don’t care anymore because he’s been in for 30 years.
Fair enough about not testing evidence. But how do they know the semen was from the killer. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but more than a few 21 year old party girls are carrying around some semen. If someone else kills them later that night, I would hate for that to “exonerate” her killer.
I prefer a virtual death penalty. Absolute solitary in a special prison, never outside the cell. No TV, no chow hall, nothing.
No lawyers, no letters, no visitors, etc.
You are simply removed from the world and all legal proceedings. Treated as though you are actually dead.
If by some fantastic chance, you are discovered to be innocent, we can go retrieve you.
They found DNA at the crime scene that does not match the accused.
This guy is NOT innocent.
He is NOT guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Defense Attorneys write the entire narrative we read.
The original judge, prosecutors, investigators, and the original jury never say a word - because they are afraid they will get sued, even though all of them still believe he is guilty.
I’d prefer to be executed over 38 years in prison.
I agree. He is NOT innocent. Look at the link in Post 12 and tell me if you aren’t even more sure he did it.
And as to your point on how defense lawyers spin these fables... I bet that is why DNA testing was declined for so long.
There is no way to know that semen found in her at the autopsy came from the killer.
This proves NOTHING
I HATE when people are freed due to DNA evidence!!!!
This only proves someone else left DNA there, not that the person was the perp, or even maybe the perp was not alone and this was one of their friends DNA the cops never knew about
Sounds good to me. Maybe they will someday be sorry for their crime and can spend the rest of their life praying like a cloistered monk.
Every living person has a TON of DNA on them right now from those they have been in contact with. Finding someone else’s DNA DOES NOT prove he is innocent.
It is not like he was convicted based on DNA
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