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The family of a young woman who was raped and murdered almost 40 years ago have appealed for the public’s help to catch the real ‘Beast of Birkenhead’ after a man wrongly jailed was exonerated by DNA evidence.
Bride-to-be Diane Sindall, 21, was ambushed, sexually assaulted and violently beaten to death when her car ran out of petrol just after midnight, in Birkenhead, Merseyside, on August 2, 1986.
Peter Sullivan, 68, who was dubbed the ‘Beast of Birkenhead,’ spent 38 years in prison for the brutal sex murder but was freed last year after advances in science revealed his DNA was not present in semen samples recovered from the scene. His is the longest miscarriage of justice in British history.
Police now believe another, unknown man, whose DNA is not on the police database, is responsible.
They are working with the National Crime Agency and using the latest ‘familial’ DNA techniques in the hope of identifying Ms Sindall’s killer.
A £20,000 reward has also been offered for information which leads to his arrest and conviction but now, as part of a new BBC Crimewatch Live appeal, Ms Sindall’s family have urged anyone who might have seen her that night or know something about the crime to contact Merseyside Police.
Speaking for the first time since Mr Sullivan’s conviction was quashed in May, they described Ms Sindall, who was engaged to her childhood sweetheart and saving up for her wedding, as a ‘beautiful soul’ who was ‘cruelly’ robbed of her future by a stranger.
Her car mechanic fiancé, David Beattie, was quickly eliminated as a suspect by police and moved to Australia several years after her murder.
Part-time barmaid Diane Sindall, 21, was savagely battered to death in August 1986, stripped half-naked, indecently assaulted, mutilated and bitten, and her body discarded in an alleyway
Innocent Peter Sullivan – whose conviction was quashed in May last year – says he was ‘bullied’ into wrongly confessing and ‘stitched up’
The Wirral pub where Diane Sindall worked to help pay for her forthcoming wedding
‘Diane was 21 years old with so much to live for,’ her family said.
‘She had a beautiful heart and soul, and was full of love, fun and laughter which could brighten your day.
‘Diane’s hopes, dreams and plans for the future were cruelly taken away from her, and she never got the wedding or her own family that she wished for.
‘The tragic loss of Diane has been felt throughout our everyday lives with a heartache that will never heal.
‘We cannot put into words what we as a family went through at the time of her death, and we are now reliving that terrible time and all that it brings once again.
‘We would like to thank everyone who has already provided information directly to the police or anonymously via Crimestoppers, but we would also appeal to anyone that may still be able to help to please do so, no matter how small or insignificant you think your information is.’
At the time of her death, Ms Sindall was employed as a florist but had also taken a second, part-time job at the Wellington Pub in Bebington, Wirral, to raise extra cash for her nuptials.
She had just finished a shift at the pub and was driving home in her distinctive blue Fiat van when she ran out of fuel just after midnight on Aug 2, 1986.
Police are now reinvestigating Miss Sindall’s murder in the hope of bringing her killer to justice
The blue Fiat van which Ms Sindall was driving on the night she was murdered
Several eyewitnesses saw blonde Ms Sindall, who was wearing a striking white blouse with large green polka dots, walking along Borough Rd, in Birkenhead town centre, between midnight and 12.20am.
Police believe she was either heading to a garage to buy some petrol or trying to find a bus stop so she could get home to Wallasey, where she lived with Mr Beattie and their pet Labrador dog.
But she never made it and instead her half-naked, mutilated body was discovered covered in vicious bite marks and lacerations 12 hours later in an alleyway in the town centre by a dog walker. She had been raped and suffered a fractured skull, as well as cuts to her breasts and genitals, during the violent attack.
Items of Ms Sindall’s clothing and a bank paying-in slip were found 15 days later, having been burnt in a small fire near Bidston Hill, a local area of heathland with woods, a lighthouse and windmill, around two and a half miles from the murder scene.
A witness later came forward to say they saw a man running away from the same spot, less than 24 hours after the murder.
The brutal killing of ‘vivacious’ Ms Sindall sent shockwaves through the town and left local women terrified.
Initially, police drew a blank but then, several weeks later and following an appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch, Mr Sullivan, then aged 30 and a petty criminal, was arrested.
Witnesses placed him close to the scene and bites found on Ms Sindall’s body were found to be an apparent match with his dental impressions.
He gave police confusing accounts of his whereabouts on the night of Ms Sindall’s murder, before admitting he was responsible.
A memorial tablet on a grass verge close to the scene of Ms Sindall’s murder
Pictured on video link from Wakefield Prison when his conviction for murdering Diane Sindall was quashed in May last year, Peter Sullivan wrongly spent almost 40 years behind bars
David Beattie (pictured in 1986 ) was Ms Sindall’s childhood sweetheart and fiance at the time of her murder
But the former labourer – who has learning difficulties – later retracted his confession.
He claimed he was denied a solicitor during his initial police interviews and was beaten by officers with truncheons into co-operating and admitting the crime.
Following his release, he told the BBC: ‘It was the bullying that forced me to throw my hands in, because I couldn’t take it anymore.’
Mr Sullivan was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years in November 1987, but was denied parole multiple times because he refused to admit responsibility for Ms Sindall’s death.
He was freed last May but, by then, Merseyside Police had already re-opened their investigation having been made aware of issues with Mr Sullivan’s conviction.
On Monday footage of the original Crimewatch reconstruction was broadcast as part of a new Crimewatch Live appeal on BBC One.
Detective Superintendent Rachel Wilson, who is leading the inquiry, said she remains convinced the killer is a local man because he had knowledge of the Bidston Hill area.
‘Someone has taken Diane’s clothing from the murder scene up to Bidston Hill,’ she said. ‘It’s quite a local point, so I think it’s someone with local knowledge of the Wirral.’
The senior officer said she believes a 17-year-old girl, who was sexually assaulted on Borough Rd on the same night, was attacked by Ms Sindall’s killer.
Ms Wilson also said her team needed the public’s help in tracing a man who was seen by a taxi driver arguing with a woman, who they believe to be Ms Sindall, also on Borough Rd, on the night she was killed.
The man was described as being white, in his 20’s and around 5ft 10ins tall. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and blue baggy work jeans.
Flowers and teddy bears still adorn a ‘poignant’ stone memorial to Ms Sindall, which was erected at the spot where she was killed, in 1988.
Some locals and members of RASA Merseyside, a charity set up in Ms Sindall’s memory to provide support for victims of rape and sexual abuse, believe that residents of local estates knew the real identity of the ‘Beast of Birkenhead’ years ago but no one from the ‘tribal’ and ‘tight-knit’ communities was willing to name the killer ‘for fear of repercussions.’
In a direct appeal to the local community, Ms Wilson said the people of Birkenhead, as well as Ms Sindall’s family and friends, deserve to know what happened.
‘There is someone who knows what happened to Diane and who was responsible,’ she said.
‘Forty years on, be that brave person now and speak up.’
She said officers would leave ‘no stone unturned’ to find the perpetrator and ‘bring him to justice.’
Ms Wilson added: ‘We hope that by seeing the original Crimewatch reconstruction and being reminded of the facts of the case will jog someone’s memory or encourage them to come forward with information they haven’t previously spoken about.
‘In 1986 DNA was very much in the early stages and, as such was not available to the detectives who originally investigated Diane’s death.
‘Unfortunately, there is no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database and we know it does not belong to any member of her family or her fiance at the time.
‘We are working with the National Crime Agency, and with their support we are trying to identify the person the DNA profile belongs to, and extensive inquiries remain ongoing.’
Mr Sullivan previously said he would support Ms Sindall’s family in court if her killer was found.
He told the BBC: ‘I really do feel sorry for them and what they’re going through at the moment, where they’re back at square one and not knowing who the person is that killed their daughter.
‘I don’t know what to say to them. I am really sorry for what’s happened to their daughter, and if they need – if they want – my support when they go to court with the guy, when they find him, I will go to court with them, I will be there by their side, 100 per cent.’