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Episode details

Radio Merseyside,17 Apr 2026,3 mins,

SeriesThe Beast of Birkenhead

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Crime Next Door
Contains scenes of sexual violence.

Available for over a year

The murder of Diane Sindall in Birkenhead, Merseyside led to Britain’s longest miscarriage of justice when local man Peter Sullivan's conviction collapsed after 38 years. This series returns to the streets, alleyways and estates of Birkenhead where it all happened, retracing Diane’s final movements. Follow through eyewitness testimony, unheard accounts and modern forensic science as we uncover how a brutal crime in a public place went unsolved for decades, while a killer may still be alive and closer to home than anyone realised. At the heart of this story is Diane: who she was, how violence against women shaped the investigation and what justice really looks like when a community has lived with fear, silence and unanswered questions for generations. Presenter: Olivia Graham. Producers: Kate Bissell, Gemma Maull and Olivia Graham. Sound Design and Music Composition: Phil Channell. Mixing: Ivan Eastley. Story Consultants: Neil McCarthy, Jack Kibble-White and Kirsty Williams. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Development was by BBC Audio Scotland and BBC Merseyside. Executive Editors: Gillian Wheelan and Ben Anderson. Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin. There’s graphic descriptions of violence in this series. For details of help and support in the UK, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline.

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