UK government could free Shields

Michael Shields is set to be released in May 2010

The decision about whether to free a football fan jailed for an attack he claims he did not commit could now rest with the British government.

Michael Shields was convicted of trying to kill a Bulgarian barman in 2005.

Shields, who has always protested his innocence, was moved from a Bulgarian to a UK prison last September.

A letter from the Bulgarian government said this means the decision about whether to grant him a pardon is now down to the British government.

The 21-year-old, from Edge Hill, was jailed for the attack in May 2005.

The incident followed Liverpool's Champions League Victory.

Shields' sentence was reduced to 10 years on appeal, and he was moved to the UK prison system in 2006.

He was transferred to HMP Hindley in Wigan, in November.

Shields has always maintained his innocence and there is a 16,000-signature petition backing him on the Downing Street website.

The government has no alternative - because there is no option of a retrial - but to pardon Michael Shields Councillor Joe Anderson

Liverpool city councillor Joe Anderson, who received the letter written on behalf of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, hailed it as a major breakthrough in the bid to overturn "a massive miscarriage of justice".

The letter, signed by the president's legal advisor, said: "Michael Shields' problems might also be solved by the competent authorities in the United Kingdom.

"We have in mind the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (article 12) which stipulates each party to this convention may grant pardon, amnesty or commutation of a sentence in accordance with its constitution or laws.

"The practices and the legislation in the UK are familiar with the mechanisms for conditional discharge of sentenced persons, including their release on humanitarian grounds."

Mr Anderson said: "The government has the responsibility to look at this new evidence and they can only come to one view because the conviction was unsafe.

"The government has no alternative, because there is no option of a retrial, but to pardon Michael Shields."

Liverpool fan Graham Sankey confessed to the attack on the Bulgarian waiter but later retracted his confession.