Liverpool MP Calls on UK Justice Minister to Pardon Shields

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman is supporting a campaign to free Michael Shields. Photo by justiceforjews.com

An MP supporting a pardon for a jailed Liverpool fan wants Justice Secretary Jack Straw to "put right" what she says is a "shocking miscarriage of justice".

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman is supporting a campaign to free Michael Shields, 22 who is serving a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of Bulgarian barman Martin Georgiev.

Ellman spoke in a debate in the House of Commons. The Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, turned down the latest appeal to release Shields and issue him with a pardon.

Straw told MPs that he was aware of the "great anger" at his provisional decision, made earlier this month, the BBC reported.

He said that he does his best in these cases to apply himself to the evidence and "...simply as a human being it would have been easier all round for me if I had been able to come to the alternative conclusion".

He insisted he had an "open mind" as he approached his final decision, and was ready to examine any further evidence submitted to him.

Straw was responding to a debate in the alternative debating chamber of Westminster Hall, called by Ellman.

She called on the Justice Secretary to "put right this shocking miscarriage of justice".

Ellman was supported by fellow Merseyside MPs, the former Labour Ministers, Jane Kennedy and George Howarth.

Shields' campaign team have 28 days to make representations and challenge the decision.

Shields was jailed for 15 years in Bulgaria in 2005 for the attempted murder of barman Martin Georgiev, who had a rock dropped on his head in Varna. His sentence was later reduced when he was transferred to a UK prison.

Shields, like a number of Liverpool fans, had broken the journey home from Istanbul following Liverpool FC's European Cup victory in Turkey.

 

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