Bulgaria to Get Dossier on Michael Shields Case

Justice Secretary Jack Straw issued the royal pardon on Wednesday, saying that Shields (pictured) was "morally and technically innocent". Photo by AFP

Justice Secretary Jack Straw is to hand a dossier to the Bulgarian authorities on the case of Michael Shields, who was sentenced by a Bulgarian court to ten years in jail for an attack on a barman, but was recently pardoned by his home country.

A source close to the Justice Secretary told the Mirror that he was "keen" to help bring the real culprit to justice.

The source said: "The Bulgarians asked for full details. Jack asked our ambassador to give them details of the decision and the new evidence."

Merseyside police said it is "a foreign investigation" so they will not be interviewing fellow Liverpool fan Graham Sankey, who allegedly confessed to attacking Martin Georgiev then withdrew his admission.

It is namely thanks to this highly controversial confession, which was rejected by the Bulgarian court, that Justice Secretary Jack Straw appears to have pardoned Liverpool fan Michael Shields.

During the trial in Bulgaria Shields insisted he was asleep in bed when a concrete slab was dropped on Martin Georgiev's head in a Bulgarian pub.

Another Liverpool fan Graham Sankey, then 20, later confessed to the crime but refused to come back to Bulgaria and give evidence in person. The Bulgarian authorities then refused to consider the evidence.

Sankey subsequently retracted his confession and his solicitor said his client was involved in a different fight.

It is that confession which appears to have persuaded Jack Straw to grant the pardon, although, in an extraordinarily detailed statement issued by the Ministry of Justice on the day of the release he did not mention Sankey by name.

Instead he explained that he had initially felt bound to respect the verdict of the Bulgarian court until being advised after a judicial review this year that it was within his power to grant a pardon.

 

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