Considering he who's sacrificed approximately 40 years of his life due to a crime he had no involvement in, Peter Sullivan maintains a unusually hopeful tone.
During our encounter last month, for what was his initial media appearance since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and eagerly anticipating getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the initial occasion since he was arrested in 1986.
That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he only knew about because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "allegedly there's been a murder".
When he was convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was condemned to a indefinite period in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "River Mersey Murderer" and "The Wolfman".
Adapting to a Transformed World
Ahead of our conversation, he was abundant with tales about how since his freedom he has had to acclimate to a completely different world.
When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still partitioned by the Iron Curtain.
He explained watching the collapse of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.
Mr Sullivan told me how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts work to realising that "in place of having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".
Modern Adjustments
His imprisonment means he has been unaware of the way so many elements of everyday life have changed - almost like someone who has been in hibernation since the 1980s.
"Having endured so long in prison and finding out there's no DHSS [Department of Health and Social Security, now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)] where you can receive your money - you're thinking, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"
He now has a digital phone, after discovering doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'app'.
He first became familiar with them when he was riding on a bus shortly after his release and saw people using smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.
Mental Impact
Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in custody have also led to an inevitable sense of prison conditioning.
He recalled how after his liberation, one morning in his flat he walked back to his bedroom and positioned himself on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and confine him into his cell.
"You've got to be at your door at a designated moment, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.
"I was just sitting there thinking, 'What am I doing?'"
Seeking Explanation
But Mr Sullivan's hope is tempered by a yearning for answers about how he ended up being charged with an notorious murder that he didn't commit, and a confusion about why he still has not had an apology.
"My entire life vanished", he said.
"I lost all my freedom, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.
"The pain is deep because I couldn't be present for them", he said.
"I cannot proceed with my life if I can't get an explanation off them."
"My only request, an apology [and to understand] the reason why they've done this to me", he said.
Authorities Position
Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a review of this matter today" because of "the changes to investigative techniques and developments in the law over the last 40 years".
The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's claims to the police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now investigate his claims that officers assaulted him and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.
When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not directly answer the question, but as part of a comprehensive declaration it said: "The force recognizes that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".
Moving Forward
Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had abandoned expectation of being able to accomplish at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.
"The sole objective to do now is get on with my own life and progress as I was before, and experience freedom now".
His future may be made easier by government monetary award, paid to individuals affected of wrongful convictions.
This program is capped at £1.3m, a maximum which it is estimated his final compensation will get very close to.
But the system is not guaranteed, and it is protracted.
Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he had no involvement in was overturned in 2023, was only awarded an provisional award earlier this year.
Admitted offenders who admit to their crimes and are released get a place to live and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not entitled to that help.
And so he is living a modest life, with his basic aspirations - although many think he is a compensation recipient.
His legal representative, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be sufficient for losing 38 years of your life".
