'They wanted to blame me for 35 rapes I didn't commit'

A man jailed in the 1980s has told the BBC that police threatened to charge him with 35 rapes if he did not confess to the brutal murder and sexual assault of a young woman.

Peter Sullivan said he believes he was "stitched up" in 1986 by officers who wanted to beat him into admitting a crime he did not commit - the killing of Diane Sindall, who was ambushed and beaten to death in Birkenhead, Wirral.

Mr Sullivan was freed in May 2025 following a re-examination of his case by the Criminal Cases Review Commission two years earlier.

Merseyside Police said due to the "substantial changes" in the law and investigative practices since 1986, there would be "little benefit" in any formal review of how the case was investigated.