Anger at refusal to pardon jailed Liverpool fan

JAILED football fan Michael Shields’s father last night hit out at the British Government for leading his family “a merry dance” by refusing to pardon his son.

Shields is serving 10 years in jail for the attempted murder of Bulgarian waiter Martin Georgiev in 2005.

Since the moment of his arrest the Liverpool FC fan maintained his innocence.

The 22-year-old was in the Golden Sands resort near Varna to celebrate the club’s Champions League triumph in May 2005 when Mr Georgiev’s skull was smashed with a paving slab.

Despite another man signing a confession and an international outcry about the case being a miscarriage of justice, Shields was locked up and transferred to Britain to serve his sentence.

Yesterday – after momentum gathered behind the belief Justice Secretary Jack Straw would grant a pardon – the politician dashed the Shields family hopes declaring the fan was not “morally and technically innocent”.

Michael Shields Snr, hit out: “We are absolutely devastated by today’s announcement from Jack Straw.

“After four years of tireless campaigning, we had every hope and belief that Michael was about to be pardoned for a crime he did not commit,” he said. “I have spoken to Michael and he is absolutely distraught. We have been led a merry dance by the government.”

“One minute we are expecting him to be pardoned and released then the next minute all our hopes are dashed.”

A statement issued by the Ministry of Justice said: “Mr Straw has made his decision in accordance with the High Court judgment of December 17, 2008, which indicated that, in order to grant a free pardon, he would have to be satisfied that Mr Shields was morally and technically innocent.

Mr Shields’s mother, Marie, said the news was “like a knife in the back”.

Family solicitor, John Wheate, vowed to fight on.

He said: “To get a pardon you have to get a higher degree of certainty and I think that’s what they’re talking about. But Jack Straw is hiding behind it.

“There is no way in the British judicial system this would have even got into court. If we’ve got a further 28 days to make representations then we will definitely do that. I have been in this line of work for 37 years and this lad is as innocent as you and me.”